Pakistan unveil new central deals

Until now Inzamam's side has relied on match fees

Pakistan have awarded central contracts to 20 players and have given 13 retainers to young players expected to represent the country in future years.

The first-ever national contracts introduced last year expired after the recent tour of the West Indies.

All 17 have been renewed, including Shoaib Akhtar, who missed that tour and the Indian trip because of injury but is now playing for Worcestershire.

The contracts are in three categories of 200,000 rupees, 125,000 and 75,000.

Skipper Inzamam, Yousuf Youhana, Abdul Razzaq and Akhtar were placed in the top category in the new deals, which commenced on 10 July.

The Pakistan team now has a break from international competition until late October when England tour for three Tests and five one-day matches.

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Players handed Central Contracts:

Inzamam ul Haq, Yousaf Youhana, Younis Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Muhammad Sami, Danish Kaneria, Kamran Akmal, Asim Kamal, Salman Butt, Naveed ul Hassan Rana, Yasir Hameed, Shoaib Akhtar, Arshad Khan, Shabbir Ahmad, Rao Iftikhar, Umar Gul, Bazid Khan, Imran Farhat.

Young players awarded one-year retainers starting from 1 July:

Misbah ul Haq, Hasan Raza, Faisal Iqbal, Muhammad Asif, Yasir Arafat, Najaf Shah, Muhammad Khalil, Shahid Nazir, Muhammad Irshad, Imran Tahir, Zulqarnain Haider, Asher Zaidi, Taufiq Umer .