The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is planning to hand a pay cut to the Pakistan cricket team’s centrally contracted players. Last year, senior cricketers urged PCB to give them a share in the revenue the International Cricket Council (ICC) grants them.
After deliberation, the PCB decided to grant 3% of the ICC revenue to them. But that arrangement will last just one year. The decision comes after Pakistan’s poor performance across formats in the last 12 months.
Pay cut for players while mentors earn for doing nothing
Whether the decision’s correct or not is another matter. But the fact that PCB continues to pay Sarfaraz Ahmed, Misbah-ul-Haq, Waqar Younis, and Saqlain Mushtaq a whopping PKR 50 lakh (INR 15.50 lakh) per month seems astounding.
Last year, the PCB appointed five mentors for the Champions Cup. However, the board decided to discontinue it in the last few months. Shoaib Malik, who was one of the five mentors, had resigned, but none of the others did.
The Champions Cup ended in January, and the four mentors are still getting their monthly salary. This means PCB has paid them PKR 12 crore (INR 4 crore) without them doing anything since. At the same time, they are planning to cut the pay of centrally contracted cricketers.
According to Cricket Pakistan, the PCB had signed a contract with a termination clause. If the board lets them off, they’ll have to pay PKR 2 crore (4 months’ salary) to each of them. That’s why the PCB has kept them employed. This has happened with Azhar Mahmood as well, who was named Pakistan’s Test coach to avoid granting severance pay of PKR 4.5 crore (INR 1.5 crore).
The PCB doesn’t want to remove all four mentors. They wish to retain Sarfaraz Ahmed and Misbah-ul-Haq on a permanent basis, but neither has been given responsibilities as of now. Both have been talked to about it, and their monthly salaries might be reduced as well.
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