Pakistan Cricket Camp In Chaos: Frustration Grows Over Delay In Players' Monthly Retainer Payments

There is growing discontent in the Pakistan cricket camp over the continued♑ delay in disbursement of the player's monthly retaineꦫrs, sponsorship share amounts, and announcement of the list of players who will get central contracts. ()

A source close to the players who are centrally contracted and part of the Pakistan squad said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is yet to disburse the player's monthly retainers and ot♑her sponsorship and share amounts.

"For the last three months🌊 the players ar♔e waiting for their payments and also an announcement of the central contracts list," the source said.

In the last central contrac𓆏t agreement signed betwe🦩en the PCB and players, the latter got a substantial increase and other benefits from the board.

Under the existing agreement, the players in the top category including Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Shah Afridi are paid monthly retainers of 4.5 million rupees after tax cuts besides their share from logo sponsorships and three per centꦯ of the revenues the PCB gets from the International Cricket Council.

The players' share of the ICC revenue for 2023-24 is close to 1.53 milli📖on rupees each.

Another source in t🍸he board said that payments had been delayed because of administrative probl🅰ems and also because the PCB too had not received its full revenues from different sources.

"The PCB is spending a lot on the complete facelift of the three stadiums in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi for the ICC Champions Trophy besides other cricket-related expenses. But t🗹he dues of players would be cleared this month," he said.

According to the contract, the ICC's share wa🉐s set to rise in 2024-25 and 2025-26, reaching 2,070,000 rupees monthly for Category A, 1,5꧒52,500 rupees for Category B, 1,035,000 rupees for Category C, and 517,500 rupees for Category D.

However, it remains uncertain whether these increases will be implemented. Under the previous contract, the fees were 1,257,795 rupees for Test matche🅘s,✅ 644,620 rupees for One Day Internationals, and 418,584 rupees for T20 matches.

Interestingly, the board has also delayed disbursement of domestic player retainers and share of the꧅ Pakistan Super League franc🗹hises from the central pool.

"Last year also the central contracts announcement was delayed right until the World Cup began in India and this year there is more delay in the announcement of contracted players. So there is growing uncertainty and unrest among some players,༺" the source said.