Islamabad: Pakistan extended the central contract of suspended offspinner Saeed Ajmal until March 31, and gave Cricket World Cup-bound legspinner Yasir Shah and fast bowler Sohail Khan low-level contracts on Wednesday.
Ajmal was retained in Category A despite being suspended from international cricket since September for an illegal action. His technique will be reassessed in Chennai, India, on Jan. 24, but he will miss the World Cup next month.
The Pakistan Cricket Board added Shah and Khan in Category D on the list of 33 contract recipients, and said new contracts will be awarded on April 1.
Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi, Junaid Khan and Ajmal are in Category A, while Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Gul and Umar Akmal are in Category B.
Ajmal was unofficially tested at Loughborough University in England late last year, and specialists said he needed more time to fix his action to within the allowed 15 degrees of elbow extension. However, local media claimed on Wednesday that Ajmal privately went to Edgbaston for another test, and bowled within the allowed limits.
Geo Television said even Ajmal's doosra, a delivery which spins away from the right-handed batsman, was cleared.
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Pakistan central contracts:
Category A: Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi, Junaid Khan.
Category B: Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul.
Category C: Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Adnan Akmal, Khurram Manzoor, Nasir Jamshed, Abdul Rehman.
Category D: Sohaib Maqsood, Sarfraz Ahmed, Bilawal Bhatti, Sharjeel Khan, Zulfiqar Babar, Fawad Alam, Ehsan Adil, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Raza Hasan, Umar Amin, Haris Sohail, Rahat Ali, Shan Masood, Mohammad Talha, Anwar Ali, Yasir Shah, Sohail Khan.
