Problems continue for Pakistan Cricket Team ahead of World Cup 2023. After the visa snag, the players are now thinking about refusing to display their sponsor logos in the World Cup. The players are still without central contracts and negotiations with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) are yet to yield any result.
Pakistan are scheduled to travel to India on 27th September and with barely 2 days remaining, the players continue their row with the PCB. Reports from Pakistan claim that the players can make their dissent public. Cricketers have also not received payments for about 4 months as match fees and monthly retainers from their apex cricketing body.
On the condition of staying anonymous, a Pakistan cricketer told Cricket Pakistan, “We are willing to represent Pakistan for free, but our question is why we should promote sponsors’ logos that are affiliated with the board. Similarly, we may decline to participate in promotional activities and other events. During the World Cup, we won’t engage in ICC’s commercial promotions and activities either.”
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Earlier the PCB and the players came to an understanding about the new and improved contract. The top players have been proposed a monthly salary of PKR 4.5 million. But things have taken a sharp turn. The players are disappointed because, after tax and other deductions, the monthly retainer will drop down to PKR 2.2 to 2.3 million. On the other hand, the retainers for the young players are much less and they have been without payment for over 4 months.
Now as per the demands of the players, Babar Azam and co demand a share which the PCB gets from the ICC and it’s sponsors. The money that the players get is less than 10% of what PCB gets from ICC, i.e 9.8 billion rupees.
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PCB has also restricted the NOC clauses for the top players of the team. Recently, the apex body also blamed the franchise cricket for the poor show in the Asia Cup and the injuries that the players sustained. Further reports claim that the PCB believes that the agents of the players have been influencing them to raise their demands.