The PCB has not awarded its most prestigious category A contracts to any Pakistan player for the 2025-26 season. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan - the only two players in category A last season - have been demoted to B.

Pakistan's Test captain Shan Masood, who was in the B category last year, is now in D, with ten players in each tier; this means the total number of centrally contracted players has increased from 27 to 30. Fakhar Zaman, who missed out on a central contract for the first time in eight years in 2024 amid disciplinary hearings, is back in category B.

The decision to place no player in the highest category has been attributed to performance. ESPNcricinfo was told the team's performance "did not lend favour to any player deserving a category A contract". It has been inte

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