PCB Finally Starts Clearing Pakistan Players' Salaries After Not Paying Them For 5 Months: Reports

After facing flak from several quarters, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has finally started clearing the dues of Pakistan’s centrally contracted players. The salary of the players was held up for a few months because of the standoff on the central contract between the board and the players.

The PCB faced criticism after former Pakistan wicketkeeper Rashid Latif stated that the players had not received their salaries from five months as he defended them after their poor performance in the ongoing ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023. However, a PCB official has now confirmed that the dues of the majority of the players had been cleared dating back to June.

“A few who have not signed as yet will do so in the next two days and their dues will also be cleared swiftly,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.

The previous central contracts had ended in June and the new contract was not signed until late September as the players and the board failed to reach an agreement. Babar Azam & Co. left for the World Cup without receiving their salaries. The board eventually accepted the players’ proposal and announced a big hike in salary. The PCB also confirmed that the players would receive a three percent share annually from the ICC revenue.

Pakistan’s poor performance in World Cup:

Talking about Pakistan’s performance in the ongoing World Cup, they failed to make it to the semifinals for the third time in a row. The Babar Azam-led side began their campaign with wins over the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before their campaign got completely derailed.

The 1992 World Cup winners lost four games in a row including a first-ever ODI loss to Afghanistan. They did win two games towards the end but it did not make of a difference. In the end, Pakistan finished in the fifth spot with just 4 wins and 5 losses.

Following the poor show in the World Cup, Babar Azam recently stepped down as the captain in all three formats. Shan Masood has replaced him as the Test captain while Shaheen Afridi has been named as the T20I captain.