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Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) are expected to give a massive hike to their cricketers in their new central contracts as per the reports. This news has come in the wake of the ongoing negotiations between the PCB and Pakistan cricket players in regard to their participation in the overseas T20 Leagues worldwide.
The three of the top names in Men in Green, Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan could find themselves in the top contract list, named Category A, which is likely to pay them a sum of PKR 4.5 million a month as a retainer, equalling to $15,900 approximately, as per ESPNcricinfo report. This number is four times as much as what was given to the Pakistan stalwarts in their central contracts last year, with the officials associated with the proceeding terming the increase in retainer values as “historic.”
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The players who will end up in Category B, are likely to receive PKR 3 million a month as a retainer, equalling to $10,600 approximately, while those who make the list in Category C and D, could get PKR 0.75-1.5 million a month as a retainer, equalling to $2650-5300 approximately.
With that, the PCB may change the central contract format for this year in comparison to last year wherein they had split the players taking part in red ball and white ball cricket . The aforementioned four categories of central contracts would mean that the governing body of cricket in Pakistan is going to return to the format from two years ago.
Although the increase in central contract retainer values is massive, it is gonna get offset in a way because of the falling Pakistan rupee in the last year or so, according to the reports. Furthermore, the annual earnings for PCB from the new revenue-sharing model of the ICC are going to become more than double at PKR 9.6 billion, approximately USD 34 million next year, which may have prompted the board to reimburse the Pakistan cricketers higher than ever before.
