Captain Babar Azam and all-format stars Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi are likely to see their salaries quadrupled under a new contract from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). It comes a year before the ICC's new revenue model kicks in which will see the Pakistan board earning almost a double income.
PCB has now moved back to the categorization of players in contracts, a change from the previous year where Test and white-ball players split. According to a report by ESPNcricinfo, the three stars are in Category A and could earn PKR 4.5 million ($15,900 or ₹13.14 lakh approximately) every month.
Category B players could receive PKR 3 million ($10,600 or ₹8.76 lakh approximately), while those in Category C and D will get between PKR 0.75-1.5 million ($2650-5300 or ₹2.19-4.38 lakh approximately) per month.
Although the sharp depreciation of the Pakistan rupee and the rising inflation in the country offset some value of the hike, it's still a big increase.
Category A Pakistan players to be allowed to play in one league plus PSL
Discussions are ongoing over new domestic contracts as well, which are also likely to see a hike in payments. But although the new terms would come as a relief, there are still issues to solve between the board and the players.
The Pakistani cricketers are among the most underpaid in the world because they don't play in IPL and are restricted to participate in other private leagues globally. The latter issue had led to a stand-off last year with the men's team refusing to sign the contracts offered by the Ramiz Raja-led administration.
According to the report, in the new contract, the players in the top two categories will likely be allowed to play in one league other than the Pakistan Super League. Those in the lower categories will be allowed to play in more than one.
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