The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to demote Sarfaraz Ahmed to ‘category c’ in new central contract.

Sarfaraz Ahmed oversaw a period as captain when Pakistan clinched the 2017 Champions Trophy but exited the 2019 World Cup in the group-stage. The cricket board, however, has decided against reducing the central contract retainers or deduct the match fees for players despite the novel coronavirus pandemic effecting the cricket season.

Senior players like Mohammed Hafeez and Shoaib Malik were dropped from the central contract list last year as the board awarded the contract to only 19 players. According to the policy of the board, the number of contracted players were reduced from 32 to 19.

In the last contract, Sarfaraz Ahmed was in Category A and was captaining the side across formats. But after the 2019 World Cup, a significant change of events saw Sarfaraz Ahmed losing his captaincy and place in the team across formats. Thus, he is not a part of the new central contract listed by the board.

“Sarfaraz has been demoted to category C in the new contracts as he is presently not a member of the playing side,” a PCB source was quoted as saying by the Indian news agency, PTI.

The decision has been taken by PCB CEO, Wasim Khan, Director International Cricket Operations, Zakir Khan and the head coach and chief selector, Misbah-ul-Haq. According to report, the board is also looking to increase the Test match fee for players despite the crisis situation.