Veteran Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez is contemplating retirement from international cricket if the latest reports are to be believed.
According to a report by Pakistan’s DawnNewsTV, the 37-year-old is miffed with the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) decision to demote him from Category A to B in the latest central-contracts list released this week.
The all-rounder has been a regular in the top category of PCB’s central contracts for some time now but he has found himself demoted to the second-tier with Babar Azam taking his place in Category A.
According to sources close to the player, Hafeez is disillusioned due to the ‘discriminatory treatment’ meted out to him.
“Mohammad Hafeez will not sign the central contract,” the source was quoted as saying by DawnNewsTV.
The source also revealed that the reason Hafeez did not play in the fifth and final ODI between Zimbabwe and Pakistan was in protest to not being picked in the preceding four matches.
Hafeez did not play in any of the five ODIs against Zimbabwe.
Hafeez has played 50 Tests, 200 ODIs and 83 T20s for Pakistan so far in his long career after making his international debut in 2003.
He had only recently returned to the limited-overs side after being reported for a suspect bowling action for the third time in his career during an ODI against Sri Lanka last year.
After remodeling his action once again, the all-rounder was picked in the Pakistan ODI squad which recently blanked Zimbabwe by 5-0 but failed to get a single appearance.
In the latest central contracts announced by the PCB, skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Amir and Yasir Shah are the players included in the top-tier Category A.