Ending a long standoff between the PCB and marquee players, Babar Azam and his team have finally reached a state of agreement and have decided to sign central contracts. These developments happen after it was reported that the star players of the Pakistan team were miffed with the board as several clauses in it did not suit their personal preferences. The contracts were presented to them on June 30th.
The PCB had certain plans in place and had announced separate red ball and white ball contracts for the first time in their cricketing history. A total of 33 players were included in the contract out of which few of them opted to seek legal help just to understand the intricacies of their new contract. The players had initially signed the respective documents before they flew away to the Netherlands to participate in a three-match ODI series and had kept a condition that the PCB should look into the contracts and make required changes.
Reports further say that the Pakistan Cricket Board is looking to have a detailed discussion with the players once they are back in the country and start preparing for the Asia Cup which is to be played in United Arab Emirates (UAE) starting from August 27, 2022. As of now, the cricket board has assured the players that their feedback will be taken into account and a better contract will be presented to them. PCB had to make the amends very quickly as there was a possibility of star players like Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Afridi flying out before signing their respective contracts.
The Pakistan players were seriously unhappy with a particular clause in their contracts which was around their participation in overseas T20 leagues. It was learned that the PCB had denied issuing NOCs to certain players who were looking forward to competing in major T20 tournaments like the Big Bash League (BBL) and the International League T20 (ILT20).
Pakistan will face the Netherlands on August 16, 2022, and will look to give game time to all the players who are set to compete in the upcoming Asia Cup.
