All-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has declined a central contract offer from the Pakistan Cricket Board after the T20I specialist was put in the lowest paid category. The board confirmed on February 24 that the allrounder politely turned down a contract offer in category C for 2020-21.
Hafeez has been without any central contract since 2019. In 2020, the all-rounder got Category A match fees for any game he played for Pakistan during the course. Since then, he has reinvented himself in the shortest format of the game. As the stats suggest Hafeez is the next to Dawid Malan in terms of run-making.
According to PCB, as part of its policy to acknowledge, incentivize and reward high-performing cricketers, the PCB elevated Fawad Alam from A+ domestic contract category to Category C of the PCB Central Contract List 2020-21. Meanwhile, Mohammad Rizwan, who has replaced former skipper Sarfaraz Khan in all the formats, has been elevated to Category A from Category B.
As per the Pakistan board’s review of performance criteria, Hafeez alongside Rizwan and Fawad was offered an upgrade in their central contracts. Both Rizwan and Fawad have happily accepted the spike, whereas Hafeez has politely turned down the offer.
While commenting on the latest development related to Hafeez, PCB chief executive, Wasim Khan said, “However, Mohammad Hafeez declined the reward and, while I am disappointed, I fully respect his decision. He wants to wait for the PCB central contract 2021-22 list, which he is fully entitled to.”
PCB announced central contracts for 2019-20. Under revised deals, PCB offered PKR 1.1 million to top category players, while Category B cricketers get PKR 750,000 and PKR 550,000 for Category C players.