The Pakistan Cricket Board has offered contracts to 20 leading women players of the country at a time when the women wing selection committee member has resigned.
Mohammad Ilyas, one of the three members of the selection committee with Farakh Zaman and Ehtishamuddin being the other two members, resigned finding the job too tiring. Ilyas is also member of the national selection committee having Mohsin Khan as its chairman.
Meanwhile, the PCB gave contracts to the women players in four categories which is believed to be a major boost for women’s cricket in the country which has shown significant improvement in the last two years.
The Pakistan team won the Asian Games Twenty20 title in China last year and recently also won a four-nation event in Sri Lanka featuring the hosts, Ireland and Holland.
“The board has selected five girls for the contracts in each category,” a board official said. He said the payments to be made in the categories were Rs 50,000, Rs 35,000, Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000. Women’s sports in Pakistan has never really taken off because of the social taboos.
“The decision to give contracts will surely be a big step towards further improving our playing standards,” Pakistan captain, Sana Mir said. The Pakistan women’s team also qualified for the World Cup two years back.
