Pakistan players expecting pay hike

Karachi: Pakistan`s top cricketers are expecting the PCB to give them another pay hike when the new central contracts for the year 2013 are given before the team leaves for the ICC Champions Trophy.

Sources close to some of the players revealed on Sunday that they were expecting a pay raise as their options for revenue earning were limited in comparison to players from other countries. "Two senior players are leading the move to convince the board to give the players a pay raise but so far, the PCB has yet to decide on this," a source said. The PCB had last year, after a five months delay in handing out the central contracts, given the players a 25 percent increase in their monthly salaries and also a 10 percent raise in their match fees for all three formats of the game. The raise increased the salaries of the cricketers in the A category of the contracts to 313,000 rupees and those in category B to 218,000. The Test match fees of the A category players also increased to around 320,000 rupees. "The players are arguing that not only do they get an opportunity to play in the lucrative Indian Premier League but the board also stopped them from taking part in the Bangladesh Premier League this year.” “Plus the international and domestic commitments of the national team also means they can`t accept full contracts to play in other foreign leagues in England, Sri Lanka, South Africa or Australia resulting in loss of earnings," the source said. The PCB this year stopped its players from taking part in the BPL after a tiff with the Bangladesh Cricket Board over sending its team to Pakistan. The source the two senior players who were close to the establishment, had conveyed their request to the chairman of the board, Zaka Ashraf, but were still waiting for a positive response. "The board is also financially not in a strong position because no international teams are coming to Pakistan since 2009 and secondly there have been increased expenses on franchising domestic cricket and on launching the PCB annual awards and also giving bonuses and cash awards to players. The board itself is in a tight position," a source in the board said. The PCB is yet to announce the new central contracts list for this year. But the official source said that the PCB this year would also have to sell afresh its broadcasting rights as its existing contract with the current broadcaster ends in July. "Already the board has suffered a loss in earnings from its broadcasting deal because India haven`t come to play in Pakistan since 2008 when they last came for the Asia Cup," the source said. He said because of India`s refusal to send its team to Pakistan or play a bilateral series at a neutral venue, the PCB`s earnings from its broadcasting deal would suffer a drop in revenues of around 35 to 40 percent which translated into millions of dollars. PTI