The first stage in creating distinct teams for each of the sport’s three formats is the classification of central contracts, which has been initiated by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and national selectors.
In an interview, Aqib Javed, a senior selector and head of development at the PCB’s High Performance Centre, stated that the new format-based classification in the central contracts was the initial stage in a plan to establish distinct squads for Test, ODIs, and T20 Internationals.
The former pacer told “Geo News” that because of the demands of contemporary cricket, all formats will now have specialized players.
“The format-based central contract is the first step towards separating teams for each format. This is only the beginning. Eventually, every format could have its own dedicated squad. We will have to do this, and immediately, Test and T20 teams must be separated because the two formats cannot be played in the same way,” PTI quoted Aqib Javed as saying.
The list of players who will receive the new contracts has not yet been released by the PCB.
According to Aqib, the procedure has been carefully considered, with the primary goal being to prevent players who specialize in Test matches from being at a disadvantage when compared to those who play a lot of white ball cricket.
“Now, if a player only plays Test cricket, he will be assessed against other Test players and compensated accordingly. The best performers in the Test category will earn up to PKR 4 million per month, while those with lower performances will receive between PKR 3 million and PKR 3.5 million. Similar performance-based categories will apply to Test-ODI and ODI-T20 players,” he added.
According to him, players must play in at least six first-class games in order to be eligible for central contracts in the Test category.
Players in the Test-ODI category may be allowed to play in a single franchise league, while those in the Test-category will receive No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for international four-day events.
In the meantime, in order to qualify for two NOCs, cricket players in the ODI-T20 category must participate in ten domestic T20 matches and at least two List A matches. Although they may play franchise cricket, players signed exclusively for the T20 category will have to play in domestic T20 events. According to Aqib, Test-ODI pay might reach PKR 4.8 million a month.
“You can’t expect a player who has had his base in T20 cricket and has been playing the format for 2-3 years to suddenly succeed in Test cricket,” he added.
