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Younis, Yousuf and Malik out of central contracts  Three former Pakistan captains - Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik - along with fast bowlers Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Shoaib Akhtar have been excluded from the list of those handed central contracts by the Pakistan Cricket Board.
However, fast bowler Mohammad Asif, who was ignored last year due to a ban imposed for a failed drug test in the IPL, and former ICL player Abdul Razzaq have been given Grade A contracts. There was a Grade B contact as well for the another former ICL player Imran Farhat.
In its list of 37 players annnounced today, the board also introduced a special stipend category for the top performers in the domestic season and budding Under-19 and other players. A PCB media release said the contracts would be effective for one year starting from January 1, 2010.
Asad Shafiq, Junaid Khan, Aamir Sajjad, Naveed Yasin, Azhar Ali and Tanvir Ahmad were handed stipends for being the top performers domestically, while Azeem Ghumman, Hammad Azam, Babar Azam, Raza Hasan, Sarmad Bhatti and Usman Qadir were rewarded similarly after helping the Pakistan U-19 team reach the final of the World Cup held in New Zealand in January.
The PCB had earlier delayed awarding annual central contracts to its players until the inquiry report into the team's dismal performance on their tour of Australia was released. A six-man evaluation committee was set up by the board after Pakistan were thrashed 3-0 in the Test series, 5-0 in the ODIs and beaten in the only Twenty20 match.
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