Sarfaraz Ahmed breaks silence on demotion in Central Contract

Former national cricket team captain Sarfraz Ahmed broke his silence as he dropped from Central Contract’s A category.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced his central contract last week, former captain Sarfraz Ahmed was not retained in the A category and demoted one notch with Yasir Shah,  in the B category.

Apart from this, Sarfraz Ahmed is no longer the ODI captain after the Tests and T20s formats.

Sarfraz Ahmed said in an interview that ups and downs are a part of any cricketer’s career. “For me, A, B or C category of central contract does not mean anything but I am a person who appreciates blessings of Allah in every situation,” former skipper added.

Sarfraz Ahmed said his goal is not to win the Central Contract categories. It is easy to achieve anything but difficult to maintain, former skipper stated.

In addition, Sarfraz Ahmed called Shaheen Shah Afridi a talented cricketer who was promoted to his place in A category.

He said that the excellent performance if young fast bowler last year is the main reason for his development in the central contract.

Expressing good wishes for Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sarfraz Ahmed said that he was hopeful that Shaheen Afridi would continue to perform well.

Pakistan Cricket Board [PCB] announced the central contract list and the No.1 ranked T20I batsman in the world and captain of Pakistan in shortest format of the game, Babar Azam appointed as the skipper of  One Day Internationals ODI team. Babar Azam will lead Pakistan in both the limited overs formats while Pakistan Cricket Board also confirmed Azhar Ali as Test captain.

PCB Men’s Central Contract List for 2020-21:

Category A

Azhar Ali (Central Punjab)
Babar Azam (Central Punjab/Karachi Kings)
Shaheen Shah Afridi (Northern/Lahore Qalandars).

Category B

Abid Ali (Sindh/Lahore Qalandars)
Asad Shafiq (Sindh/Multan Sultans)

Haris Sohail (Balochistan)
Mohammad Abbas (Southern Punjab)
Mohammad Rizwan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa/Karachi Kings)
Sarfaraz Ahmed (Sindh/Quetta Gladiators)
Shadab Khan (Northern/Islamabad United)
Shan Masood (Southern Punjab/Multan Sultans)
Yasir Shah (Balochistan/Peshawar Zalmi).

Category C

Fakhar Zaman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa/Lahore Qalandars)
Iftikhar Ahmed (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa/Karachi Kings)
Imad Wasim (Northern/Karachi Kings)
Imam-ul-Haq (Balochistan/Peshawar Zalmi)

Naseem Shah (Central Punjab/Quetta Gladiators)
Usman Shinwari (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa/Lahore Qalandars)

Emerging Players’ Category

Haider Ali (Northern/Peshawar Zalmi)
Haris Rauf (Northern/Lahore Qalandars)
Mohammad Hasnain (Sindh/Quetta Gladiators)