Few players yet to sign central contracts, asks PCB for more time

The fees of Pakistan cricketers in all formats have been increased by 10 per cent compared to last year.

According to details, a copy of the central contract was handed to the players during the camp in Lahore. Many have signed it while some have asked for more time to study it.

PCB released the list of 33 players on June 30 for the new central contracts, starting from July 1. Players were included in different categories of red and white contracts.

All cricketers of categories A, B, C, D and Emerging category will be paid the same match fee across formats.

The Test match fee has increased to PKR 8,38, 530. Earlier, players received PKR 7,62,300 for this format. ODI match fee has increased to PKR 5,15,696 from PKR 4,68,815.

For the shortest format, the match fee has moved to PKR 3,72,075 from PKR 3,38,250.

Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam, along with Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi has been awarded both red and white-ball contracts. Babar, Shaheen and Rizwan are in the A category of both contracts.

Hasan Ali is in the B category of the red ball and the C category of the white ball. Imamul Haq is in the C category of red ball and B category in white ball.

Amongst the 10 players who have received red-ball contracts, Azhar Ali is Category A, Abdullah Shafique, and Naseem Shah have been placed in Category C for the first time along with Saud Shakeel, who has been awarded Category D.

Fawad Alam and Nauman Ali have been retained in Category B and C, respectively, whereas Abid Ali, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shan Masood and Yasir Shah have been handed Category D contracts.

Eleven limited-over specialists were awarded white-ball contracts.

Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan, who were in Category B in 2021-22, have been awarded Category A contracts, while Haris Rauf has been promoted to Category B. Mohammad Nawaz has been retained in Category C.

Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir have been promoted from Emerging to Category 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 has increased the number of players from three to seven. Players in the Emerging Category are: Ali Usman, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Huraira, Qasim Akram, and Salman Ali Agha.