Pakistan’s top cricketers’ concerns are growing over the lack of clarity on match fees. With the Champions One Day Cup set to kick off in Faisalabad on Thursday, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has yet to inform national players about their financial compensation.
Sources indicate that the national cricketers with central contracts will receive only half the international match fee for domestic games.
Previously, they were paid 322,310 rupees per match for One-Day internationals, half the standard 644,620 rupees match fee.
With no new agreements in place, it appears national cricketers will be paid the same as domestic cricketers for this tournament, which sits outside the regular domestic schedule.
Domestic cricketers earn 60,000 rupees per match, while non-playing squad members receive 20,000 which is far less than the Champions Cup mentors.
In contrast, the mentors assigned to the Champions Cup Waqar Younis, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and Saqlain Mushtaq have secured significantly higher financial packages.
Initially reported to receive 5 million rupees for the tournament, they have now been signed on three-year contracts worth 5 million rupees monthly.
Their new roles will extend beyond the Champions One-Day Cup, involving player development and talent scouting at academies.
This development places the mentors’ salaries above those of Pakistan’s top cricketers, including Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan, whose monthly salaries stand at 4.5 million rupees.