Sports: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has meted out severe punishment to Fakhar Zaman and Hasan Ali - two of Babar Azam's biggest supporters in the senior team by not naming them on the list of players awarded with a central contract for the 2024-25 season.

Notably, Fakhar was a part of 'Category B' and Hasan was in 'Category D' in the central contract that was offered last year. However, the latest changes have witnessed the ouster of the two star players.

Interestingly, Fakhar had come out in support of Babar after the PCB had excluded him from Pakistan's squad for the final two Tests of the recently culminated three-match series against England at home. Babar had not scored a fifty in his last 18 innings and was struggling in the middle.

Fakhar had questioned the "suggestions about dropping arguably the best Pakistan has ever produced".

"It’s concerning to hear suggestions about dropping Babar Azam. India didn’t bench Virat Kohli during his rough stretch between 2020 and 2023, when he averaged 19.33, 28.21, and 26.50, respectively. If we are considering sidelining our premier batsman, arguably the best Pakistan has ever produced, it could send a deeply negative message across the team. There is still time to avoid pressing the panic button; we should focus on safeguarding our key players rather than undermining them," Fakhar had captioned his post on X.

As per reports, the PCB was fuming about Fakhar's post and he was bound to face consequences. On the other hand, Hasan Ali has also been very vocal about Babar and has thrown his weight behind him during his lean patch. Though Hasan has not been Pakistan's go-to pacer lately, he was a part of the previously announced central contract and is now on his own.

List of centrally contracted players (2024-25 season):

Category A (2): Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan

Category B (3): Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood

Category C (9): Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and Shadab Khan

Category D (11): 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.