LAHORE – The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has increased the fees of national players for Test, ODI, and T20I matches, making cricket more financially attractive.
On June 30, the cricket board announced men’s central contract lists for 2022-23, which came into effect from Friday, 1 July.
For the first time, the PCB has introduced separate red and white-ball contracts, while four more players have been added to the Emerging Category. This means a total of 33 players, 13 more than the previous season, have received contracts for the next 12 months.
Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam, along with Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi were awarded both red and white-ball contracts.
Players included in categories A, B, C, D and E will receive equal fees for red and white ball matches.
PCB has hiked the Test fees from Rs762,300 to Rs838,530 while the fees for ODI matches have been increased from Rs468,815 to Rs515,696 and the T20I fees have witnessed a slight surge as it was hiked to Rs372,075 from Rs338,250.
Amongst the 10 players who have received red-ball contracts, Azhar Ali has been promoted to Category A, Abdullah Shafique, 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 have been 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 as part of its strategy to encourage, develop and incentivise up-and-coming domestic performers, 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.
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