PCB faces fire on contract policy

Karachi: Former cricket stars berated the Pakistan Cricket Board for omitting leading performers from the list of centrally contracted players.

The former players were also irate about PCB`s decision to demote some players to the stipends list and awarding central contracts to players, who did not play for the national team last year.

PCB had announced a list of 18 players, who were awarded central contracts in three categories, dropping the names of Mohammed Yousuf and Younus Khan.

The Board also named 19 players, who will get a stipend of Rs75,000 per month.

 "I don`t know what criteria has been followed while finalising the list, but it is amazing that players like Hasan Raza, Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar, Muhammad Sami, Imran Nazir have been omitted while other promising youngsters like Sarfaraz Ahmed, Khalid Latif and Khurrum Manzoor are now being given stipends," former Test batsman Basit Ali said.

The secretary of the Karachi City Cricket Association Siraj-ul-Islam Bukhari said he could not understand how the Board could give just stipends to players like Sarfaraz Ahmed, Latif or Manzoor who were the future of Pakistan cricket.

"We will lodge a strong protest with the Board and we want to know in the governing council what criteria were adopted for giving contracts and stipends," Bukhari said.

The PCB included three players -- Muhammad Hafeez, Abdul Rehman and Wahab Riaz -- in the contracts list although they did not play a single match for Pakistan in 2009.

The contracts committee, headed by chief operating officer Wasim Bari demoted Sarfaraz, Latif and Manzoor to the stipends list although the three performed well when given the opportunity to play for the national team. - PTI