The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has finally rolled out the central contracts for its national team players, following a lengthy delay. In these new contracts, some prominent players, like Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, and Sarfaraz Ahmed, have not been included. Although the PCB did not get the players’ signatures before their departure to Australia, they plan to get their approvals by email.
In terms of compensation, match fees and monthly salaries remain the same, though there has been a small increase in the players’ share of the ICC revenue. Test match fees are set at PKR 1,257,795, ODIs at PKR 644,620, and T20Is at PKR 418,584. For players in Category A, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan will receive a monthly contract fee of PKR 4.5 million. Their monthly income will also include an ICC share, now raised to PKR 2.07 million from PKR 1.53 million, making their total monthly amount PKR 6.57 million.
For Category B, players like Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Shan Masood will have a monthly salary of PKR 3 million. Their ICC share has increased to PKR 1.552 million, up from PKR 1.147 million, bringing their total monthly income to PKR 4.552 million.
Category C players, such as Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Nauman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, and Shadab Khan, are assigned a base salary of PKR 1 million. Their share from the ICC revenue has increased to PKR 1.035 million, from PKR 765,000, totaling their monthly pay at PKR 2.035 million.
In Category D, players like Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Harira, Mohammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Wasim Junior, and Usman Khan will receive PKR 750,000 per month. Along with the ICC share, now PKR 517,500 (previously PKR 382,500), their total monthly earnings reach PKR 1.267 million.
These centrally contracted players will also receive additional fees for domestic matches, including PKR 628,898 for a four-day match, PKR 322,310 for an ODI, and PKR 209,292 for T20 games.
ICC Appoints New Deputy Chair
Imran Khwaja will remain as the ICC’s deputy chair after his recent reappointment, with his new term starting on December 1, 2024, which is also when Jay Shah, BCCI secretary, steps into the ICC chair role.
Khwaja has been part of the ICC Board since 2008 and took on the deputy chair role in 2017. In 2020, he even acted as interim chair when Shashank Manohar’s term concluded. Later, Khwaja ran for the top ICC position against Greg Barclay but was defeated after two rounds of voting.
In July 2024, during the ICC’s annual general meeting in Colombo, Khwaja was re-elected as one of three Associate member directors on the ICC Board. Jay Shah, aged 35, also made history this year as the youngest person and the fifth Indian to assume the ICC chair, following the terms of Jagmohan Dalmiya, Sharad Pawar, N Srinivasan, and Manohar.
Another major decision made by the ICC this year is a revision to the tenure limits for the ICC chair and board directors. Now, instead of a maximum of three two-year terms, officials may serve a maximum of two three-year terms.
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