The Pakistan Cricket Board has made domestic participation mandatory for selection.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has made it clear to every player, including current central contract players and international players, that it is a priority that all players will have to participate in the domestic tournament at least once a year. This move is significant, as it was reported that famous Pakistani cricketers do not participate in Pakistan's domestic circuit except for the PSL. The Pakistan Cricket Board is looking to strengthen the domestic structure of Pakistani cricket and create as much attraction as it can. It is a fact that Pakistani cricket has been suffering since the departure of Sarfaraz Ahmed by Waqar Younis and Misbha-ul-Haq, and since then Pakistan has been struggling against every team it competes with. The turning point was when Pakistan was losing matches against the USA and Ireland teams, and then the PCB had enough of the current pool and advised selectors to find new talent that could play the modern style of cricket.
The current Pakistan T20 is one of the best teams at the moment, as the PCB has carefully selected the team for the ICC World Cup 2026, and if there are issues regarding the team selection, then they can be sorted out as soon as possible. The PCB wants to keep a check on the current players; that is why the management has made it mandatory for the central contract players to play in at least one domestic tournament. This will allow players' performance scrutiny, performance updates, and fitness updates, and PCB selectors will be able to monitor the performance of players. This will also increase the standard of Pakistan's domestic structure, as Pakistan's domestic structure is not on par with the rest of the cricket-playing nations. The Pakistan Cricket Board is taking baby steps to ensure that PCB management can control the players and there are no past kinds of player grouping and ego issues between the players. The Pakistan Cricket Board has learned from the fiasco of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, etc., where this senior group forced the PCB to agree with their central contract demands, which were unjustified.
