LAHORE: The central contracts issue between national cricketers and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been resolved after a delay of months.
Sources have confirmed the resolution of the long-standing matter regarding the central contracts of national cricketers. This issue, which had been pending for several months, has finally been settled through mutual agreement between the concerned parties.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is set to make an official announcement regarding the updated central contracts shortly. Chief Selector Inzamam-ul-Haq played a pivotal role in facilitating the resolution of this matter.
It was reported that national cricketers had expressed objections to certain clauses in the contract, but all these reservations have now been addressed and removed in the revised agreement.
The previous central contracts had expired on June 30, prompting a one-month extension to finalise the terms. Under the new contract, the outstanding payments owed to the cricketers will be settled in accordance with the updated terms and conditions.
Earlier, PCB had decided to end the red and white ball category from the Central Contracts. the new contracts will be distributed in four different categories, named A, B, C and D, to the players.
The PCB has also decided to reduce the number of players — which was 33 in the last year — in the central contract to 25 or 26.
The players are also expected to get a historic rise of about 50% increase in their match fees in new contracts.
Captain Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi are included in category A and are the top earners with Rs4.5 million a month as a retainer, almost four times higher than last year’s offer.
In Category B, players will earn around Rs3 million, while the players in Category C and D will earn under the region of Rs0.75-1.5 million.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan men's team will leave for India during the wee hours of Wednesday morning to participate in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023
Pakistan, who won the mega event in 1992, will be looking to win the trophy for the second time in their history.
The Cricket World Cup will be played in a round-robin format with all teams playing against each other for a total of 45 league matches.
Schedule of Pakistan's warm-up matches
September 29 - vs New Zealand in Hyderabad
October 3 - vs Australia in Hyderabad
Schedule of Pakistan’s main round matches
October 6 - vs Netherlands in Hyderabad
October 10 - vs Sri Lanka in Hyderabad
October 14 - vs India in Ahmedabad
October 20 - vs Australia in Bengaluru
October 23 - vs Afghanistan in Chennai
October 27 - vs South Africa in Chennai
October 31 - vs Bangladesh in Kolkata
November 4 - vs New Zealand Bengaluru (Day match)
November 11 - vs England in Kolkata
The day matches which will start at 10:00am Pakistan Standard Time (PST) while all other matches will be day-night fixtures starting at 01:30pm (PST).
If Pakistan qualify for the semi-finals, they will play in Kolkata.
If India qualify for the semi-finals, they will play in Mumbai unless playing against Pakistan, in which case they will play in Kolkata.
Pakistan squad for ICC World Cup 2023
Babar Azam (c), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, M Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha.
Travelling reserves: Mohammad Haris, Abrar Ahmed, Zaman Khan
Sohail Imran Sohail Imran is a senior reporter for Geo News.
