LAHORE, Jan 7: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has ignored some very talented and prolific players while awarding the 26 central contracts to players on Tuesday.

While maverick fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar re-entered the central contract list after missing it last year due to several controversies, some deserving players like fast bowling all-rounder Abdul Rauf, talented Kamran Hussain, consistent batsman Saeed Bin Nasir failed to get the contract which surprised many knowledgeable people in the cricketing circles.

Rauf, who played for Pakistan in 2008 and performed quite well, was sadly ignored from the list of players awarded the contracts although many felt he deserved one, not just on performance but also on the basis of seniority. He recently emerged as the country’s top wicket taker with a haul of 405 wickets.

Both Rauf and Kamran’s performances were notable during their matches for Balochistan in the Pentangular Cup. They were instrumental in helping their team become surprise qualifiers of the Pentangular Cup, the toughest of the domestic competition. Needless to say, Rauf had the lion’s share of 10 wickets in the final.

Also ignored was the ever-consistent Saeed Bin Nasir who scored 1,107 runs in the season. In the Pentangular Cup-2008-09 alone, he scored 419 at an average 52.25. Kamran, on the other hand, claimed 39 wickets and also scored 577, showing his worth as an all-rounder of rare quality.

When asked about the three players’ omission, PCB Chief Operating Officer Saleem Altaf could only come up with that “the chief selector (Abdul Qadir), coach (Intikhab Alam) and manager Yawar Saeed prepared the list of the contracted players.”

Surprisingly, all three of them have only recently joined the PCB and are not fully aware about the performances of each and every player in the domestic season.

However, the good news for the contracted players is that the PCB had retained last year’s remuneration in the central contracts, thus squashing reports regarding a possible cut in the monthly stipend of the players.