Pakistan "A" Grade Contracts Including Babar Azam Appeal PCB For Hike In Match Fees: Report

The Pakistan “A” grade contracts of Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, and Mohammad Rizwan have all made an appeal to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for consideration in an increase in match fees. In July, The PCB had announced a central contract list with different categories, and only four players were named in the A categories.

The consistency was the main factor while deciding the contract categories for the players and Hasan Ali’s recent performances in all formats of the game was given an A contract. The fees, however, remained the same in all three formats which did not delight the Pakistan A contract players and they had requested to look for an increase in match fees.

PCB Opts For Bringing Uniformity Across All Formats

The Pakistan Cricket Board in an attempt to bring an equal distribution hadn’t increased the match of the Grade A contracts and only the retainership percentage was increase to 25. As per the new announcements made by PCB, in grade B, the Test match fee was increased by 15 percent, ODI and T20I remunerations by 20 and 25 percent respectively.

Similarly, in grade C there was a 25 percent increase in retainer; 34 percent increase in Test match fees, 50 and 67 percent increase in ODI and T20 International match fees respectively. This had caused a big disappointment for the Grade A contracts and they have requested PCB Director Zahir Khan for considering the matter. The PCB has however stated the players haven’t any denial and had accepted the contract.

Mohammad Hafeez Turns Down Pakistan Contract

The veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez, who is part of the plans for the T20 Worldcup has turned down a C grade offer from the Pakistan Cricket Board. Hafeez has been playing franchise cricket all over the world and has been in good form recently. His experience will be handy for Pakistan in the upcoming T20 Worldcup while Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz have all been declined contracts.

The one-year contracts will run from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022 for the 20 players that have been offered contracts.