Pakistan stars sign amended PCB central contract

Babar and Afridi will be the key to Pakistan's Asia Cup hopes

Pakistan's star cricketers including captain Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan have signed their central contracts after negotiations with the board.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced different contracts for the red and white-ball players for the 2022-23 season. PCB handed the copies of the contracts to the players ahead of the pre-tour practice camp in Lahore. 

It is pertinent to mention that majority of the players in lower categories signed the contracts as soon as they received them over a week ago but few of the senior players including Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen, Shadab, Fakhar, and Hasan had requested some time to go through the contracts thoroughly before signing them.

After discussions with the top officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), it has been reported that a few of the top players like Babar, Shaheen, and Rizwan have signed the revised central contract prior to their departure for the tour of the Netherlands.

PCB have agreed to player conditions

Players signed the central contracts after a few of their conditions were met and they will continue to have discussions with the PCB regarding a few more conditions after they return from the upcoming Asia Cup 2022 in mid-September.

It was earlier reported the players had issues with a few of the clauses in the central contract with the most prominent one being the No Objection Certificate (NOCs) for participation in foreign franchise T20 leagues. The PCB have tried to compensate by increasing the monthly retainers and the match fee in the new central contracts.

The fees for Pakistan cricketers in all formats have been increased by 10 percent compared to last year.

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