Pakistan left-arm pace bowler Mohammad Aamir has been awarded category A contract by the Pakistan Cricket Board after the great performance in the Champions Trophy 2017.
Pakistan defeated arch- rivals India in the finals by 180 runs to clinch their maiden Champions Trophy title. Aamir did not play in the semi-finals against England but the Pakistani bowlers did a great job to restrict the strong batting England batting line up.
In the finals against India, Aamir took 3 important wickets of Rohit Sharma, Captain Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan which broke the backbone of the Indian batting line up. India was bowled out for 158 chasing a massive target of 338 set by Pakistan.
“The central contracts were awarded after keeping in mind the performances, fitness, and discipline of the players,” the PCB said. 35 players were awarded central contract with 14 new faces including in that.
In category A contract, apart from Mohammad Aamir, Azhar Ali, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Shah, captain Sarfraz Ahmed who led Pakistan to a famous win in the Champions Trophy 2017 as the captain in a major ICC tournament for the first time has been awarded category A contract.
Young Babar Azam, Imad Wasim, Asad Shafiq and Hasan Ali have been given Category B contract. Hasan Ali was the leading wicket-taker in the recently concluded Champions Trophy 2017 tournament.
Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Haris Sohail, Sami Aslam, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Junaid Khan, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Abbas, Shadab Khan all these players have been handed category C contract. Wahab Riaz was injured after the first match against India and did not take part in the rest of the tournament. Fakhar Zaman played with positive intent but his fitness was not up to the mark.
It is good to see that Pakistan Cricket Board give category D contract to young players like Imam UL Haq and Asif Zakir who has done well with the great domestic season. Umar Akmal has not been given central contract as he was sent back to home due to poor fitness.
Mohammad Aamir has played so far 28 test matches, 36 ODI and 31 T20I for Pakistan. He is one of the best swing bowlers who can trouble the best batsmen in the world.
