PCB omits farewell seeking Shahid Afridi from contract list

New Delhi: Hours after Shahid Afridi shared a candid video message yesterday, on one should strive to realise the talent, the veteran Pakistan all-rounder found himself out of PCB's latest list of contract list.

@SAfridiOfficial Message for Everyone !! pic.twitter.com/gC35oj0TAc — TEAM AFRIDI (@TEAM_AFRIDI) October 27, 2016

The Pakistan cricket board on Thursday announced the list of contracted players for 2016-17, for the period October 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017.

PCB announces players central contracts 2016-17 https://t.co/KmDZnBFIZH — PCB Official (@TheRealPCB) October 27, 2016

Category A
Azhar Ali, Muhammad Hafeez, Misbah ul Haq, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik,Sarfraz Ahmad & Yasir Shah — PCB Official (@TheRealPCB) October 27, 2016

30 players made the list, which was divided into four categories.

Afridi, 36, was in talks with the PCB for an honourable exit from international cricket, but his request for a farewell series had started a controversy involving legendary Javed Miandad.

The hard-hitting right-handed batsman and leg-spinner retired from Test cricket in 2010 and from one-day internationals in 2015. He was in the A-list last year.

Besides the former captain, off-spinner Saeed Ajmal has also recieved the axe.

Interestingly, comeback fast bowler Mohammad Amir has been given a new contract in category-B, while Yasir Shah and Sarfraz Ahmed found themselves on in the A-list, along with Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Azhar Ali and Muhammad Hafeez.

But star batsmen Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad were demoted to D-list, which is the lowest level.

Here's the complete list

Category A: Azhar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Yasir Shah

Category B: Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Amir

Category C: Haris Sohail, Mohammad Rizwan, Imran Khan, Shan Masood, Mohammad Irfan, Sami Aslam, Babar Azam, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Khalid Latif, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir

Category D: Anwar Ali, Zulfiqar Babar, Mohammad Asghar, Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal