How much will players earn under PCB’s new central contracts?

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has raised the salaries of cricketers in categories C and D under the newly announced central contracts, sources confirmed on Tuesday.

According to sources, the remuneration of national cricketers in category C has been raised by PKR 500,000, taking the monthly salary from PKR 2 million to PKR 2.5 million.

Similarly, players in category D will now receive PKR 1.5 million per month instead of PKR 1.2 million, following an increase of PKR 300,000.

Sources further disclosed that the PCB has only increased the salaries of categories C and D, while players in category B have not received any raise.

It is pertinent to mention that PCB announced central contracts for 30 men’s cricketers, with no players included in category A this year.

According to the PCB, unlike previous years, no player has been placed in category A. Instead, ten players each have been slotted into categories B, C, and D

Compared to last year’s list of 27, the pool has been expanded to 30, with 12 new names featuring for the first time.

The new entrants are Ahmed Daniyal, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Mirza and Sufyan Moqim.

Five players have earned promotions on the back of strong performances last season. Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha and Shadab Khan have all been elevated from category C to category B.

Nine players have retained their positions, including Abdullah Shafique in category C; Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas Afridi and Mohammad Wasim Jnr in category D.

Noman Ali, Sajid Khan and Saud Shakeel in Category C and Shaheen Shah Afridi, who continues in category B.

Notably, eight players who were part of last year’s contracts have missed out.

Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan and Usman Khan, all of whom were in Category D, have not been awarded contracts this year.