Star Pakistani cricketers sign the PCB’s updated core contracts following a week-long impasse

After a week-long standoff with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), prominent players, including captain Babar Azam, bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan, have agreed to sign the board’s updated core contracts.

The players, according to a source by ESPNcricinfo, agreed to the terms of the contract before leaving for the Netherlands tour with the understanding that they would revisit the board after the Asia Cup in September to address a few more provisions.

Some of the contracts’ provisions have prompted the veteran players to voice their disapproval. According to the report, “they include a wide variety of issues concerning the NOC procedure for participation in foreign leagues, to wanting additional information about image rights in ICC events and shares from participation fees at ICC tournaments, as well as terms around signing individual endorsements.”

From 2022 to 2023, the PCB will distribute its 33 core contracts between players on the white and red balls.

Many of the players in the lesser categories signed the contracts when they were given to them at the start of the pre-tour camp in Lahore, as per the board’s customary procedure, but the senior stars took a little longer to sign.

The group also comprised Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan, and Fakhar Zaman in addition to Babar, Afridi, and Rizwan. Since there is no national player association, the players requested extra time so they could negotiate the specifics of the contracts with their advisors and attorneys.

In the past, Pakistani cricketers had little occasion to disagree with any clause in the agreements they signed and promptly returned them. When drafting contracts for cricketers in the past, the Pakistan board never engaged in official negotiations with the players. As a result, this new development may be viewed as a kind of benchmark in the relationship between the cricket board and players.

The primary contracts state that there was no disagreement over the monthly retainer payments or match fees. For a Test, each player will be paid match costs of Rs. 838,530 PKR (about $3,800), Rs. 515,696 PKR (roughly 2,300 US dollars), and PKR 372,075 (around 1700 US dollars) respectively.

On the other hand, a top Pakistani red-ball contract’s retainer is PKR 1,050,000 per month (about US$4700), while a comparable white-ball contract’s retainer is PKR 950,000 (about US$4300).