Discontent in Pakistan camp over delay in disbursement of player's monthly retainers

Karachi: There is growing discontent in the Pakistan cricket camp over the continued delay in disbursement of the player's monthly retainers, 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 other sponsorship and share amounts.

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

In the last central contract agreement signed between 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 cent 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 million rupees each.

Another source in the board said that payments had been delayed because of administrative problems 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 the dues of players would be cleared this month," he said.

According to the contract, the ICC's share was set to rise in 2024-25 and 2025-26, reaching 2,070,000 rupees monthly for Category A, 1,552,500 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 matches, 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 franchises 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.