Pakistan Cricket Board likely to announce separate contracts for red-ball and white-ball cricket

In a latest development, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is mulling to introduce a separate contract for the players featuring in the red-ball and white-ball cricket. 

In a recent interaction, the PCB media director Sami-ul-Hasan has said that there have been many meetings that have taken place to discuss the matters related to the central contracts, and the announcements are supposed to be public next month. The players will be compensated according to their format. 

For example, the likes of Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi feature in Test cricket and limited-overs cricket and will be paid according to both formats. 

In the new policy, the board is also expected to bridge the salary gap of their cricketers as compared to the players of other nations. Earlier, it was reported that the skipper and head coach Saqlain Mushtaq had demanded an increase of 20% in their salaries. 

Also, PCB may announce to increase the players in the emerging category. Until last year, only three players marked the presence on this list and are expected to move to 7 or 10 in this contract. 

In another development, the board is thinking of allocating special funds for the prominent cricketers of the country to prioritize playing for the nation and focus less on the league competitions. 

If the cricketer is offered a contract in the franchise leagues around the world, and if the team management feels the player needs to rest or train himself for the upcoming series, then PCB would try to compensate the player for the losses sustained by him.

On the other hand, the board is also considering providing contracts to the domestic cricketers and the coaches.  

In their next assignment, the Pakistan national team will be up against the West Indies team in a 3-match ODI series in June. However, this series was postponed due to the covid cases in the Caribbean camp last year.