LAHORE: The Pakistan men’s cricket team is likely to receive their central contacts next week for the 2023-24 season.
The contracts expired on June 30 but were extended for a month due to uncertainty regarding chairmanship in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
According to sources, PCB Cricket Committee Chairman Misbah-ul-Haq will be briefed about the central contracts in the coming days.
After approval from PCB Management Committee Chairman Zaka Ashraf, the central contracts will be handed over to the players.
PCB Head of International Cricket, Usman Wahla, and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Salman Naseer, also met the Pakistan cricket team captain, Babar Azam, and other senior players to discuss the central contracts during the recently-concluded Test tour of Sri Lanka.
There is likely to be a 25 to 35 percent increase in retainers and match fees in the new central contracts.
The policy for issuing No Objection Certificates (NOC) for league cricket is also likely to be revised.
PCB men's central contracts list for 2022-23
RED AND WHITE-BALL CONTRACTS (5):
Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi (all Category A), Hasan Ali (red-ball Category B, white-ball Category C) and Imam-ul-Haq (red-ball Category C, white-ball Category B)
RED BALL CONTRACTS (10):
Category A – Azhar Ali
Category B – Fawad Alam
Category C – Abdullah Shafique, Naseem Shah and Nauman Ali
Category D – Abid Ali, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood and Yasir Shah
WHITE-BALL CONTRACTS (11):
Category A – Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan
Category B – Haris Rauf
Category C – Mohammad Nawaz
Category D - Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir and Zahid Mehmood
EMERGING CONTRACTS (7):
Ali Usman (Southern Punjab), Haseebullah (Balochistan), Kamran Ghulam (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Haris (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Huraira (Northern), Qasim Akram (Central Punjab) and Salman Ali Agha (Southern Punjab).
Sohail Imran Sohail Imran is a senior reporter for Geo News.