Pakistan batsman Fawad Alam must be a confused man nowadays. For nearly a decade, the left-hander has consistently been one of the best performing batsmen in first-class cricket in the country with more than 10,000 runs to his name at an average of 55. But he hasn’t played for Pakistan in Tests since 2009, in ODIs since 2015 and T20s since 2010.

Despite scoring heavily over the years, Fawad had failed to get a look in. In fact this year, selector Inzamam-ul-Haq said even though the 32-year-old has been consistent, now there are others better than him. “I am not sure why Fawad wasn’t picked in the past before me but if you ask me about my tenure as chief selector, I have seen better players,” Inzamam had said in April.

Not only is Fawad well and truly out of favour in the cricketing establishment, he is now not even among the top 33 players in the country.

The Karachi batsman failed to land a central contract in the new list announced by the Pakistan board that saw a big pay hike for all players. That even promising players in domestic cricket have been given a new Group E contract makes it more difficult to ascertain why Alam wasn’t deemed worthy of a contract.