Pakistan to introduce separate red-ball and white-ball contracts, to pay extra for denying offers from foreign leagues

The PCB said that the Board of Governors meeting has approved an annual budget of 15 billion rupees for the fiscal year 2022-23 with 78 percent allocated for cricket activities. "As part of its strategy to incentivise, reward and encourage its high-performing elite cricketers, as well as to narrow the gap in salaries compared to players of other countries, the BoG has approved changes in the men's central contracts structure," the PCB said in a statement. From July 1, separate red and white-ball contracts will be given with increased retainers. The number of centrally contracted players has been increased from 20 to 33. The Board announced a 10 per cent increase in match fees across formats and also an increase in match fee for non-playing members from 50 per cent to 70 per cent of the overall match fee.

A captaincy allowance has also been introduced to compensate the team leader for the additional responsibilities that come with that role. PCB chairman Ramiz Raja also announced at a media conference in Lahore that the Board has also set up a special fund for current players who get offers for playing in foreign leagues. "We want to discourage our elite players from signing up for additional off-season events. We feel the players are better off not going to these leagues. We will pay them 50 to 60 percent of the contract amount they are offered where required. "This is a very important season for us we don't want our players to be tired or burnt out. We want them to be ready and fresh to go for national duties." Ramiz also confirmed a 15 per cent increase in retainers of women's central contracts across all categories. In addition to this, the pool of women's centrally contracted players may be increased from 20 players