PCB awards central contracts to Yasir, Sohail

KARACHI: After being included in the World Cup final squad, pacer Sohail Khan and spinner Yasir Shah have been awarded central contracts by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Yasir was included in the preliminary 30-member squad after his impressive showings in the Test series against Australia and New Zealand last year in the UAE.

Sohail Khan dashed into the final squad after brilliant performances in the recently-concluded Pentangular Cup although he was not in the preliminary squad.

Suspended spinner Saeed Ajmal’s contract was also extended even though he is unavailable for national duty because of his illegal bowling action.

PCB extended the central contracts of all 31 players up to March 31, 2015, including Yasir and Sohail.

The central contracts for 2015 will be awarded from April 1, 2015. The duo have been awarded central contract in Category ‘D’.

The term of the previous contracts expired on December 31, 2014. The Central Contracts Committee comprises director cricket operations (international) Zakir Khan, director game development Haroon Rasheed, chairman national selection committee Moin Khan and head coach Pakistan national team, Waqar Younis.

The committee met on December 7 and after due deliberations it was decided to extend the existing contracts.

The list of 33 players extended central contracts:

Category ‘A’: Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Junaid Khan.

Category ‘B’: Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul.

Category ‘C’: Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Adnan Akmal, Khurram Manzoor, Nasir Jamshed, Abdur Rehman. Category ‘D’: Sohaib Maqsood, Sarfraz Ahmed, Bilawal Bhatti, Sharjeel Khan, Zulfiqar Babar, Fawad Alam, Ehsan Adil, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Raza Hasan, Umar Amin, Haris Sohail, Rahat Ali, Shan Masood, Mohammad Talha, Anwar Ali, Yasir Shah and Sohail Khan.