Babar, Shaheen, Rizwan expected to get whopping pay raise in new contracts

The trio of Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan are likely to get a hefty pay raise as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) mulls making major changes in the Central Contracts of the national side players, sources revealed late Friday night.

The cricketing body has not only decided to end the red and white ball category in the contracts but also decided to reduce the number of players — which was 33 in the last year — in the central contract to 25 or 26.

The new contracts will be distributed in four different categories, named A, B, C and D, to the players.

Moreover, the players are also expected to get a historic rise of about 50% increase in their match fees in new contracts.

Senior players Babar, Rizwan and Shaheen are included in category A and are the top earners with a whopping Rs4.5 million a month as retainers — almost four times that of last year's offer.

In Category B, players will earn around Rs3 million, while the players in Category C and D will earn around Rs0.75-1.5 million.

It must be noted that the contracts expired on June 30 but were extended for a month due to uncertainty regarding chairmanship in the PCB.

The PCB will hand out the central contracts for the players after the announcement of the new selection committee and the approval of the PCB management committee chairman Zaka Ashraf.

Earlier, the PCB appointed former Test cricketer Misbah-ul-Haq as the head of the high-profile Cricket Technical Committee.

The committee includes former Test cricketers Inzamam-ul-Haq — who is likely to become head of the new selection committee — and Mohammad Hafeez.

The cricket trio will provide recommendations on cricket-related matters, including, but not limited to the overall domestic structure, scheduling, playing conditions, the appointment of the national selection committees, the appointment of national team coaches, central and domestic contracts, and plans for the development of umpires, referees and curators.

They will also have the power to invite additional cricket experts and shall report to the head of the PCB Management Committee on a regular basis.