Pakistan to introduce separate red-ball and white-ball central contracts

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday (June 24) introduced a policy of separate central contracts for white-ball and red-ball cricket for its players with more retainers while discouraging high-performing players from taking part in overseas leagues over international cricket. The PCB said that the new policy is a part of a strategy to incentivise and encourage elite players and also reduce the gap in salaries compared to players from other countries.

The PCB stated that, for the 2022-23 fiscal year, the board has approved an annual budget of 15 billion rupees. 78 percent of the sum will be dedicated towards cricket-related activities. The PCB chairman Ramiz Raja called this the turning point for Pakistan cricket. He also highlighted the success the cricketing nation has enjoyed in recent times across all formats. He added that the philosophy was to appreciate, acknowledge and reward high-performing players.

Some of the other decisions that were made during the Board of Governors (BoG) meeting, as reported by Cricket Pakistan, are:

• Separate central contracts for red-ball and white-ball cricket have been approved
• A 15% increase has been approved in salaries of women cricketers
• Central pool to be increased to 25 players for women’s cricket
• The number of men’s centrally contracted players have been increased from 20 to 33
• An additional category ‘D’ will be introduced in the central contracts
• A special allowance for the captains will be introduced
• Funds have been allocated for elite players under workload management
• BOG approves establishment of the Pakistan Cricket Foundation as a charitable trust
• Rs. 100 million have been allocated for the establishment of the Pakistan Cricket Foundation
• The foundation will take care of retired cricketers, match officials, scorers and ground staff

“Since September 2021, the Pakistan men’s cricket team has achieved an impressive 75 percent success-rate across all formats, which is the highest amongst all the Test-playing nations. This has contributed in Pakistan improving its rankings, which now stands at fifth in Tests (up by one), third in ODIs (up by three and the highest since January 2017) and third in T20Is (up by one),” Raja said.

“I remain committed to looking after our national cricketers who bring joy to the fans and laurels for the country. These players are our pride, and always need to be well looked after and properly valued so that they can continue to flourish in their field of expertise,” he added.