Umar Gul notable absentee as PCB announce list of contracted players

Umar Gul has not been included from the 27-member list of contracted players

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the list of contracted players from July 2015 to June 2016, ESPNCricinfo reports. The players have been graded into four categories A, B, C and D and the most surprising from the list is that of pacer Umar Gul who has been overlooked for any of the four categories.

The central contracts selection panel which came up with the 27-man list comprises of national chief selector Haroon Rasheed, head coach Waqar Younis and Zakir Khan, the director of international cricket operations.

"This bunch is a blend of seasoned players with proven credentials and emerging talent with potential to represent Pakistan across three formats," the PCB said in a statement. "The remunerations - both the monthly retainer as well as match fees - have been increased across the board along with restoring the win bonuses and performance incentives."

ODI skipper Azhar Ali and Shoaib Malik has been promoted to the A category, with the former jumping straight from Category C to be the biggest mover. Spin bowler Saeed Ajmal and fast bowler Junaid Khan were meanwhile demoted to B category with the off spinner's future in the game a big question mark following his struggles after coming back with a remodeled action.

Malik’s promotion was the least expected though as he has been out of the national team for a long time and only made his comeback to the team last May after missing out on the World Cup squad.

As per the new contract guidelines, the players will be entitled to bonuses for scoring a hundred, taking more than four wickets in a match or for having a brilliant series. Here is the full list of contracted players.

Category A: Azhar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan.

Category B: Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Junaid Khan, Rahat Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah

Category C: Anwar Ali, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Imran, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaan Masood, Umar Akmal

Category D: Babar Azam, Sami Aslam, Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Amin, Zulfiqar Babar