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The Pakistan Cricket Board introduced separate red-ball and white-ball central contracts for its players on Friday. While PCB has increased the number of centrally contracted players from 20 to 33 and rewarded them by increasing their match fees across formats, it has also discouraged players from participating in foreign leagues by offering them compensatory money.
PCB Chairman, Ramiz Raja stated that the current season holds high importance for the board and it wants players to stay fresh and active for the upcoming ICC tournaments. The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board addressed the media in Lahore on Friday and informed them that the board has set up a special fund for current players who got offers for playing in foreign leagues.
"We want to discourage our elite players from signing up for additional off-season events. We feel players are better off not going to these leagues. We will pay them 50 to 60 per cent of the contract amount they are offered where required," said Raza.
Notably, PCB confirmed that the Board of Governors meeting has approved an annual budget of 15 billion rupees for the fiscal year 2022-23 with 78 per cent allocated for cricket activities.
In his address, Raja also informed that the board is rewarding and encouraging its high-performing elite cricketers by approving changes in the men's central contract structure. The Board announced a 10 per cent increase in match fees across formats and also an increase in match fees for non-playing members from 50 per cent to 70 per cent of the overall match fee.
"We have also introduced captaincy allowance to compensate the team leader for the additional responsibilities that come with that role," Raja informed.
The PCB chairman stressed the fact that the board is willing to narrow down the salary gap of its players with foreign players and encourage them to stay motivated and inspired. Raja also explained the reason behind splitting red and white-ball contracts by suggesting that it has been done by keeping upcoming white-ball tournaments on priority.
"We have four international events in the next 16 months, including two World Cups. This recognition of offering contracts to white-ball specialists will help us to develop strong and two separate squads, for the red-ball and white-ball format.
This will also allow us to have a bigger spread of talent to showcase to the world." The former Pakistan skipper also confirmed that the board is working on the lines of creating a pool of talents where they can field simultaneous red and white ball squads like India and England for international events/series.