Pakistan is a cricket-loving country and its national team has a large following among the public. The country has been the birthplace of some excellent cricketers who, over the years, have built their name with big international characters.
The national sports authority, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), keeps on discovering best talents from the current players. Meanwhile players put in continuous efforts both in local competitions and overseas matches just to get the much-desired central contracts from PCB.
The focus of this article is to disclose the Pakistani cricketers who have won PCB’s central contracts along with their respective salaries.
Pakistan Cricketers Contracts and Salary Categories
The payment of all the contracted players has been divided into four categories. The categories are mentioned below:
Category A
The players who are in the topmost category will receive PKR 4.5 million as their monthly salary (around $15,900 or INR 13.14 lakh). They have enjoyed a gigantic salary raise of 202 percent.
Regrettably, none of the current Pakistani players have been awarded a Category A contract for the 2025-26 season. The PCB has mentioned players’ poor performance as the reason for not awarding a Category A contract this season.
Last year, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were getting a salary in this range. But now they don’t belong to this group anymore. Instead, they have been moved down to a lower category.
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The following players are being offered Pakistani cricketers’ Category A Contracts:
Not awarded to any player!
Category B
The players classified in Category B will be getting a monthly sum of PKR 3 million (approximately $10,000 or INR 8.76 lakh). Such players will be receiving a salary increase of 144 percent.
Fakhar Zaman and Hasan Ali are the new faces in B Category. Plus, five players have gained a promotion from C to B.
The following Pakistani cricketers are part of Category B contracts:
- Abrar Ahmed (promoted)
- Babar Azam (demoted)
- Fakhar Zaman (new)
- Haris Rauf (promoted)
- Hasan Ali (new)
- Mohammad Rizwan (demoted)
- Saim Ayub (promoted)
- Salman Ali Agha (promoted)
- Shadab Khan (promoted)
- Shaheen Shah Afridi (retained)
Category C
Players in Category C will be paid PKR 1.5 million every month (approximately $5,300 or INR 4.38 lakh). Their salaries have increased by 135 percent.
Five players have been granted new contracts during this season, and PCB has classified them in Category C. Four have kept their places, whereas Naseem Shah has been moved down from B to C.
The following Pakistani cricketers are on Category C contracts:
- Abdullah Shafique (retained)
- Faheem Ashraf (new)
- Hasan Nawaz (new)
- Mohammad Haris (new)
- Mohammad Nawaz (new)
- Naseem Shah (demoted)
- Noman Ali (retained)
- Sahibzada Farhan (new)
- Sajid Khan (retained)
- Saud Shakeel (retained)
Category D
Finally, the players in Category D will receive a monthly payment of PKR 0.75 million (approximately $2650 or INR 2.19 lakh).
The last category has six new faces. Shan Masood, surprisingly, has suffered a major setback, going from B to D, even though he is the Test captain of Pakistan.
The following Pakistani players are in Category D contracts:
- Ahmed Daniyal (new)
- Hussain Talat (new)
- Khurram Shahzad (retained)
- Khushdil Shah (new)
- Mohammad Abbas (new)
- Mohammad Abbas Afridi (retained)
- Mohammad Wasim jr (retained)
- Salman Mirza (new)
- Shan Masood (demoted)
- Sufyan Muqim (new)
Pakistan’s Cricketers Match Fees
In addition to their central contracts, PCB has also raised the match fees for all three formats of the game. The match fees received a 50% increment for Tests, a 25% increment for ODIs, and a 12.5% increment for T20s.
Currently, the Pakistani players are going to get PKR 1.25 million (around $4,358) for each Test match. They will get PKR 6,44,620 ($2,247) for an ODI match. While for a T20I match, they will get PKR 4,18,584 ($1459)