Contrary to the expectations, all rounder Shahdi Afridi has been given central contract for the next term and Younus Khan despite having a bad patch of a life-time was also given category A contract along with Afridi.
The Pakistan Cricket Board on Tuesday announced that its 21 cricketers on central contracts would get a 15 percent salary increase and a 10 percent rise in match fees this year.
The PCB in all gave contract to 30 players including retainer contractees for 2013, with a 15% increment in the monthly fee. Afridi and Younis, who have been dropped from the ODI team, have been retained in the top A category while fast-bowler Umar Gul, who plays all three formats, has been dropped from A to B. Kamran Akmal, who wasn’t considered for a central contract last year, has been awarded a Category C contract this time.
The contracts, up for renewal in January, were finally handed to players hours before they left for Britain early on Tuesday.
Test and one-day captain Misbah-ul Haq, Twenty20 captain Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal and Younis Khan also retained their “A” category status.
The PCB keeps 21 players on central contracts in three categories, marked by three different scales for retainers and match fees.
“For the second consecutive year the players’ retainership fee has been increased by 15 percent,” a board statement said.
Spearhead Umar Gul, batsman Umar Akmal and spinner Abdul Rehman were demoted to “B” category after lacklustre performances last year.
Others in the “B” category are Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Junaid Khan, Shoaib Malik and Nasir Jamshed.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal regained his central contract after losing out last year and was placed in the “C” category along with Mohammad Irfan, Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Aizaz Cheema, Adnan Akmal, Faisal Iqbal and Ahmad Shahzad.
“The test match fee for all categories has also been increased as well as the match fee for all formats by 10 percent from 2012,” the board said.
The increases give “A” category players a monthly salary of 359 375 rupees ($3 600) and a test match fee of Rs 440 000.
“B” category players will get a monthly salary of Rs 251 562 and players in the “C” category, Rs 143 750.
On the other that the retainer stipend given to the players is Rs 71875 and is given to Sarfaraz Ahmed, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil, Umar Amin, Zulifqar Babar, Asad Ali, Harris Sohail Sohail, Anwar Ali.