Pakistan women receive substantial hike as PCB announces central contracts

After a few weeks of speculation, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has finally announced the list of central contracts for the senior national women's cricket team. Like last year, PCB has decided to award central contracts to 20 players, who are divided into four categories, denoted as A, B, C, and D. The 'D' category is for emerging players. Interestingly, the new contracts will be valid for a duration of 23 months and not the usual one-year period. The term begins on August 1, 2023 and will end on June 30, 2025.

According to a PCB release, the performance of the players will be assessed after a year. Nineteen players signed the contracts in Karachi where they are currently preparing for a white-ball series against South Africa. Eyman Fatima signed on the dotted lines in Lahore as she is not a part of the squad for the series against Proteas.

Former captain Bismah Maroof and current captain Nida Dar retained their spots in the A category while Sidra Ameen, who is known for her aggressive batting, earned a promotion to A category from C. Muneeba Ali also made her way to the B category. Ayesha Naseem, who recently announced her retirement, dropped out of the list, while Aliya Riaz and Diana Baig have been demoted to B and C category, respectively. Baig was forced to stay on the sidelines for most parts of last year as she had to deal with a couple of injuries.

Anoosha Nasir, Eyman Fatima, Shawaal Zulfiqar and Umm-e-Hani are the four players who have been given central contracts for the first time. They are placed in Group D. The four other players in category D are Tuba Hassan, Sadaf Shamas, Najiha Alvi, and Syeda Aroob Shah, with all four having regained a contract after losing it in the previous cycle. For the unversed, Syeda captained the Pakistan at the Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup earlier this year. She missed out on bagging a contract last year but has made a comeback.

As per the new contract, there is a 32 percent increase for the retainers, while there is also a 100 percent increase in match fees in ODIs and a 50 percent increase in T20Is.