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The decision of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to reform the category of central contracts has attracted a lot of attention from the cricket world. Amid the team’s recent decline in ICC tournaments and recent bilateral performances across all formats, the PCB has made changes.
This is an important step by the cricket board as there is no A category in their central contracting system. ‘B’ is the highest rank in Pakistan cricket after the introduction of the latest system. Why has the board removed A category from the central contracts of players?
Why is there no A-category in Pakistan cricket’s central contract system?
During an exclusive interview with ARY News, the former international cricketer, who now serves as the interim head coach for the men’s national cricket team, explains why the PCB has removed the A category from the contract system.
The coach boldly claimed that as of now, there is no A category because none of the current cricketers deserve it. He did not take the name of any cricketer, but from his statement and his body language during the interview, it is clear that the board and he himself are not at all happy with the recent performance.
Aaqib Javed said no one deserves to be in A category
While the former cricketer was criticizing the players, the anchor of the new channel asked whether the new contract system, which has no A category, could project a negative image about Pakistan cricket globally.
After this Aaqib Javed replied that he did this based on the performance of the team in recent times. If the team performs well then the whole world will see it. He does not think that the central tier system will have any negative impact on the reputation of Pakistan cricket without mentioning the top talent.
Aaqib Javed said, “In our first central contract, we did one thing. There is no A for anybody because your performance is not like that. Then you have to think about it.”
He also mentioned that a central category without Category A is a move taken by the board in return for money. Aaqib Javed clarified that he did not take the decision to remove the top category for any specific purpose; He did this on the basis of the performance of the players.
How will the latest centralized contracting system help?
He also highlighted that players, on an individual basis, know how they perform and how others perform too. If a cricketer, who deserves to be in the A category, finds himself in the B category then there may be a tussle between the players within the team.
“If there is no A, there is value for money, right? Your performance is reflected through your results. We have not created it deliberately. People who are in B say, why is it an A? Because what was happening is your T20 performance, one-day performance, Test match performance – everyone is playing. And you have been playing all year round,” Aaqib Javed said in defense of the board’s decision.