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The top national cricketers including the skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq are pleased with the pay rise that assures them an annual income of Rs 2.4 million through the central contracts, a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official said on Tuesday.

The PCB has given its leading players a 25 percent increment in a new 12-month contract that comes into effect from July 1. A total of 20 players have been kept in the central contract system that has several slabs while 12 more cricketers have been give a monthly retainer.

“The new contracts have been worked out by the PCB ad-hoc committee and all the players are happy on getting a raise,” said Abbas Zaidi, the PCB’s Director of Board Operations.

The A-list players - Inzamam, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Youis Khan and Shahid Afridi - would get Rs2.4 million per annum. The B category that is formed by Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Malik, Danish Kaneria and Kamran Akmal would get Rs1.5 million in a year.

The C category players would earn Rs900,000. This category includes Asim Kamal, Imran Farhat, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Shahid Nazir, Salman Butt, Bazid Khan, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar Anjum and newcomers Mohammad Asif and Faisal Iqbal.

The medium pacer Shabbir Ahmed has been axed from the central contracts’ list but would get a special allowance of Rs30,000 per month from the PCB. Shabbir is presently serving an ICC ban over illegal action till the end of this year. Also to get a similar allowance are the national team’s reserve players who would get Rs30,000 a month till the duration of Pakistan’s tour of England.

Zaidi said that the ad-hoc committee has accepted in principle a proposal to establish a Cricketers’ Benefit Fund for retired players.
Source:The News