Fakhar Zaman Pays The Price For Defending Babar Azam, Loses PCB Central Contract & Spot in Pakistan Squad

Fakhar Zaman has paid the price for warning the selectors on dropping Babar Azam from the Test side as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) dropped the batter from the central contract list.

Earlier this month, Fakhar had taken to social media to react to reports suggesting the new selection panel are pondering about dropping Babar from the second and third Tests against England.

Fakhar had expressed his disbelief about talks to drop Pakistan's best ever batter Babar, adding how India backed Virat Kohli during his slump.

"It's concerning to hear suggestions about dropping Babar Azam. India didn't bench Virat Kohli during his rough stretch between 2020 and 2023, when he averaged 19.33, 28.21, and 26.50, respectively," Zaman wrote on X formerly Twitter.

"If we are considering sidelining our premier batsman, arguably the best Pakistan has ever produced, it could send a deeply negative message across the team."

The left-handed opener had also said there is enough time to avoid pressing the panic button and they should instead focus on safeguarding their key players rather than undermining them.

"There is still time to avoid pressing the panic button; we should focus on safeguarding our key players rather than undermining them," Fakhar added but fell to deaf ears as Babar was eventually dropped, and his social media activity only irked the PCB officials.

The PCB later issued a show cause notice to Zaman and as a result, he has further been axed from the list of centrally contracted players and also did not find his name in the white-ball squads for the upcoming tours to Australia and Zimbabwe.

Fakhar was a Category B player for Pakistan in their 2023-24 central contracts, but lost his spot in the contract list of 2024-24 released on Sunday (October 27), when the selectors also announced the squads for Australia and Zimbabwe series.

Interestingly, Babar returned to the squad for the Australia tour, but was rested for the tour to Zimbabwe. Fakhar, on the other hand, did not find a place in either squad as Pakistan handed domestic performers a call up to the national side.

Apart from Fakhar, Sahdab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed also did not get a call up to the white ball squads with the latter also being dropped from the PCB Central Contract that is being topped by Babar and Mohammad Rizwan.

Babar and Rizwan are two players in Category A, while Shaheen Afridi has dropped down to Category B from A, joining the likes of Shan Masood and Naseem Shah. There are twenty other players in Categories C and D. Here is a look at the full list:

PCB Central Contract List for 2024-25

Category A (2): Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan
Category B (3): Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood
Category C (9): Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and Shadab Khan
Category D (11): Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Hurraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Usman Khan