LAHORE – The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has increased the fees ofnational players for Test, ODI, and T20I matches, making cricket morefinancially attractive.
On June 30, the cricket board announced men’s central contract lists for2022-23, which came into effect from Friday, 1 July.
For the first time, the PCB has introduced separate red and white-ballcontracts, while four more players have been added to the EmergingCategory. This means a total of 33 players, 13 more than the previousseason, have received contracts for the next 12 months.
Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam, along with Hasan Ali,Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi were awarded both redand white-ball contracts.
Players included in categories A, B, C, D and E will receive equal fees forred and white ball matches.
PCB has hiked the Test fees from Rs762,300 to Rs838,530 while the fees forODI matches have been increased from Rs468,815 to Rs515,696 and the T20Ifees have witnessed a slight surge as it was hiked to Rs372,075 fromRs338,250.
Amongst the 10 players who have received red-ball contracts, Azhar Ali hasbeen promoted to Category A, Abdullah Shafique, Naseem Shah have beenplaced in Category C for the first time along with Saud Shakeel, who hasbeen awarded Category D.
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Fawad Alam and Nauman Ali have been retained in Category B and C,respectively, whereas Abid Ali, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shan Masood and Yasir Shahhave been handed Category D contracts.
Eleven limited-over specialists have been awarded white-ball contracts.
Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan, who were in Category B in 2021-22, have beenawarded Category A contracts, while Haris Rauf has been promoted toCategory B. Mohammad Nawaz has been retained in Category C.
Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir have been promoted from Emerging toCategory D where they are joined by first-timers Asif Ali, Haider Ali,Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Zahid Mehmood.
In the Emerging Category, the PCB as part of its strategy to encourage,develop and incentivise up-and-coming domestic performers, has increasedthe number of players from three to seven. Players in the Emerging Categoryare: Ali Usman, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Haris, MohammadHuraira, Qasim Akram and Salman Ali Agha.
