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Pakistan on Friday announced bonuses worth over a million dollars to their contracted players apparently in a bid to counter the growing threat of the rebel Indian Cricket League.

But a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official said that the bonuses have nothing to do with the ICL saying that the Board has just decided to reward its top players ahead of a hectic season.

“The Board wanted to give bonuses to our contracted players as a special incentive,” said the official.

PCB chairman announced the details of the bonuses according to which players in the A category would receive US$100,000 each, B category players will get US$50,000 apiece while each player in the C category will receive US$25,000.

A total of 17 players signed the central contracts which were offered to 20 of the countryís leading cricketers by the PCB earlier this summer. Three of the players — Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq and Imran Farhat — did not sign the contracts. The trio together with former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, who was not offered a central contract — instead opted to play for the breakaway ICL.

According to details, there are six players in A the category, six in B category and five in the lowest pay-scale in the central contracts which are effective from July 1-December 31, 2007.

Several Pakistani players were offered lucrative contracts by the ICL but most of them including pace star Shoaib Akhtar, Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik and batting maestro Younis Khan turned down the offers.

Some of the players especially star all-rounder Shahid Afridi have been demanding compensation from the Board for rejecting the ICL offers.

Meanwhile, the PCB chairman finally managed to trace Mohammad Yousuf and talked to him about changing his mind over the ICL contract. However, Yousuf told Ashraf that he is currently busy in his tableeghi visit and will be able to talk about the issue on his return to Lahore on September 22.

Source:Cricket News