Reports: Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal lose PCB central contracts

Reports from a number of sources suggest that the central contracts of Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal have been terminated by the Pakistan Cricket Board with immediate effect.

The former Pakistan captain played at the National T20 tournament but had to leave the Islamabad side following an injury to his right knee. Regarded as one of the best all-rounders, Afridi has been an asset to his team over the last decade and despite many hiccups in his career, he has been a champion player for Pakistan.

Afridi held the record for the fastest century in ODIs which was broken 2 years ago by Corey Anderson. This record is currently held by AB de Villiers. However, the record for the fastest century among Pakistani batsmen is still safe in his hands.

Though Afridi hasn’t been inconsistent with the bat in his long career, his bowling has improved with each and every game and he was a vital cog in the Pakistan’s bowling line up for a long time. 395 wickets in 398 ODIs goes on to prove the value of Afridi in the team. He has scored over 11,000 runs across all formats and has also bagged 540 international wickets.

Apart from Afridi, reports suggest that PCB has also terminated the contract of Saeed Ajmal. Ajmal was a regular member of the Pakistan team for 6 years and was regarded as one of the best spinners during that time.

But things started changing rather drastically as he was restricted from bowling the doosra, one of his lethal weapons to bamboozle the batsmen, as his arms flexed more than 15 degrees – more than the legal limit prescribed by the ICC.

Ajmal has played 33 Tests and 110 ODIs for Pakistan bagging 169 and 182 wickets respectively.

According to the recent changes in the committee Anwar Ali, Harris Sohail, Junaid Khan and Maqsood Ahmed contracts have also been terminated. Sarfaraz Ahmed, the skipper of the T20 squad, has been promoted to the A category by the committee.

Pakistan is currently playing a two-match ODI series in Ireland which will be followed by the ODI series in England starting from 24th August. They will be high on confidence after winning the last Test against England to level the series 2-2.