In Bahawalpur, Pakistan, on Monday, Zaka Ashraf, the head of the PakistanCricket Board (PCB), indicated a new policy regarding Pakistan cricketers’participation in franchise leagues, apart from the Pakistan Super League(PSL), as reported by ARY News. He acknowledged that Pakistan cricketershad been increasingly participating in various franchise leagues worldwidedue to what he described as relatively low earnings.
Zaka Ashraf expressed his concern over the limited financial rewards forPakistani cricketers and stated that the PCB was contemplating increasingtheir payments to make central contracts more appealing to the players.
The PCB had recently introduced central contracts for a three-year period,with significant improvements in monthly retainers and match fees acrossall four categories. Notably, 30 cricketers were set to receive substantialcontracts, which would also include a share of the ICC revenue. Unlike theprevious year, the national contracts for both red-ball and white-ballcricket had been consolidated into a single contract.
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These players were categorized into four groups, each with varyingincreases in monthly retainers: Category A (3 players) at 202%, Category B(7 players) at 144%, Category C (4 players) at 135%, and Category D (16players) at 127%. Furthermore, there would be a substantial increase inplayers’ match fees, with a 50% increment for Test matches, 25% for ODIs,and 12.5% for T20Is. Additionally, centrally contracted players engaged indomestic cricket would receive 50% of the international match fee.