PCB and players agree on historic central contracts

The longstanding dispute regarding the central contracts has finally been resolved. Over the past four months, Pakistan cricketers have faced a payment drought, receiving neither their monthly retainers nor match fees from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

To tackle this issue, Zaka Ashraf, Chairman of the PCB Management Committee, delegated negotiation authority to Chief Selector Inzamam-ul-Haq.  Inzamam shares the same agent as Pakistan's top cricketers, which worked in his favour in persuading them.

In a recent development, Inzamam brought Pakistan captain Babar Azam to a meeting at Zaka Ashraf's residence, where Babar presented the players' demands. The core of the problem revolved around the players' demand for a share in the revenue that the PCB receives from the International Cricket Council (ICC). After deliberations with his advisors, Ashraf decided to take action.

Another crucial meeting was convened on this issue yesterday, resulting in a decision to allocate 3% of the board's revenue from the ICC to the cricketers. This percentage, while still amounting to millions, was agreed upon as a fair compromise.

Under the new contract terms, Category A cricketers like Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan will receive a monthly payment of PKR 4.5 million, while Category B players will receive PKR 3 million. Players in the remaining two categories will receive monthly payments ranging from PKR 1.5 to 0.7 million. Furthermore, the board informed the players about a 10% deduction for taxes.

The players agreed in principle with the proposed contract and assured the board that they would sign the contracts after further studying it.