Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir was not happy with the Pakistan Cricket Board’s move to drop Fakhar Zaman from the contract list. After the list was released on Sunday, October 27, Amir took to Twitter to slam the PCB and stated that Fakhar was the country’s only impact player in the white-ball game.

The PCB released its new contract list on Sunday, making many changes to the previous one. Fakhar Zaman was dropped from the list after he tweeted against the selection panel, which dropped Babar Azam from the Test side.

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Mohsin Naqvi explained the reason behind Fakhar Zaman’s dismissal from the central contract. Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Naqvi said that any player in the national team cannot tweet his opinion on the calls made by the selection committee.

Mohsin Naqvi said that apart from the tweet issue, Fakhar was not up to the mark with his condition, which was the main reason behind the player’s exit from the contract.

“Tweeting was an issue, but the biggest issue was fitness. There is a show cause notice pending against him and we will see about that. He should prove his fitness, the view was appreciated in Connection. Camp and are very thankful to him for that but you can’t comment on the selection committee in the selection calls but the bigger issue is the selection,” Mohsin Naqvi said in the press conference.

Amir reacted to the news and disagreed with the move from the council. Fakhar was one of Pakistan’s best batsmen in the ODI World Cup 2023. Despite playing 4 matches, the left-hander scored 220 runs at an average of 73, much more than the other batsmen in the side.

“I’m surprised Fakhar Zaman is not in the squad. He is the only impact player we have in white ball cricket,” Amir tweeted.

The PCB released its new contact list after the England Test series ended. Fakhar Zaman has been dropped from their central contract list after openly criticizing the national cricket board for resting Babar Azam midway through the England Test series. Notably, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) released the list of contracted players for the 2024-2025 season on Sunday, October 27. While several youngsters earned their prime contracts, the names of several veterans were found missing from the roster.

Pakistan Announces New White Ball Captain: Details

Among them was Fakhar Zaman, who was earlier part of Category B in the central contracts for the previous season. His removal comes just weeks after he openly criticized the decision to rest Babar Azam on his X handle. The post did not go down well with PCB officials and the board issued him a “show cause” notice for his post.

Following the incident, Fakhar has now lost his central contract for the first time in eight years. The scintillating batsman last played for his team during the T20 World Cup 2024, where Pakistan were knocked out of the tournament in the very first stage after embarrassing losses against co-hosts USA and India.

List of centrally contracted players for the Pakistan men’s national team

Category A: Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan

Category B: Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood

Category C: Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and Shadab Khan

Category D: Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Hurraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Usman Khan