The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced its list of 30 centrally contracted male players for the 2025–26 international season in a major reshuffle. Most significantly, both star batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have been downgraded to Category B, while no cricketer was placed in top Category A this year.
Both Rizwan and Babar were also left out of Pakistan's T20I squad for the coming Asia Cup. Although the duo was a part of the just-concluded ODI series against the West Indies, they have not appeared in Pakistan's T20I team since last year. Rizwan has also led the team in ODIs.
The roster of retained players has been increased from 27 last year to 30 this year, with 12 new faces included. The previous year, Babar and Rizwan alone featured in Category A, indicating the extent of overhaul in the new setup.
New additions to the list are: Ahmed Daniyal, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Mirza, and Sufyan Moqim.
A few players have gained promotion according to their past year performances. Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, and Shadab Khan have all been moved from Category C to Category B. Nine others have kept their last year's positions.
Out of those who held on to their contracts, Abdullah Shafique (Category C), Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, and Mohammad Wasim Jnr (Category D) do not change. Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, and Saud Shakeel also retain Category C status, while bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi remains in Category B.
But eight players from the last year's contracts—Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan, and Usman Khan—have been removed from the list of central contracts.
Category B (10 players): Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Category C (10 players): Abdullah Shafique, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Sahibzada Farhan, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel.
Category D (10 players): Ahmed Daniyal, Hussain Talat, Khurram Shahzad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Salman Mirza, Shan Masood, Sufyan Moqim.
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