Inzamam's fate hangs in balance

Karachi: Former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq's fate hangs in balance as the Pakistan Cricket Board has asked the national selection committee to submit a shortlist of 30 players, 20 of whom will get the new central contracts by July 1.

Chief Operating Officer of the PCB Shafqat Naqmi said Inzamam would get a contract if picked by the selectors.

"Inzamam will certainly get a central contract if he is among the shortlist
finalised by the selectors,"

Naqmi said on Friday.

"The selectors will give us at least 30 names and we will then pick the best 20
for the year old new contracts,"

he said, adding the new contracts would be approved by the board's ad-hoc committee at a meeting in Bhurban on June 16 and would be given out by July 1.

Inzamam announced his retirement from one-day internationals and stepped down as captain after Pakistan were eliminated in the first round of the World Cup. The 37-year-old, however, expressed his wish to continue playing Test cricket.

Although Inzamam has insisted he wants to continue playing Test cricket, sources said neither Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf nor other senior officials are in favour of extending his career.

Sensing this, former chief executive of the board and ex-captain Rameez Raja has pleaded with the selectors to include Inzamam in the Test side, as the team still needs his experience for a few more years.

On bringing in new contracts, the PCB, after scrapping the old ones with the players after the World Cup, has made it clear that the fresh ones will be based on performances instead of seniority, as was the case in the past.

Sources said there would be a fixed retainer amount for all players. Besides, there would be bonuses for individual performances.

For example, apart from getting the monthly retainer if a player scored a fifty or hundred he would get additional money as per his contractual terms.