Karachi : Shoaib Akhtar was awarded one of the highest-paid contracts by the Pakistan Cricket Board on Tuesday, ending the uncertainty around the fast bowler after he was dropped from the list last year.
He joined captain Shoaib Malik, vice captain Misbahul Haq, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Kamran Akmal, Salman Butt and Danish Kaneria in the "A" category.
They will all receive 250,000 rupees ($3,500) per month.
Twenty-six players received contracts that were also rated in "B" and "C" categories.
"The central contracts were devised by coach Intikhab Alam, manager Yawar Saeed and chief selector Abdul Qadir and the main criteria was seniority of the players," PCB chief operating officer Salim Altaf said from Lahore.
Winning bonuses have been stopped but the payment for each test will rise from 250,000 ($3,500) to 350,000 rupees ($5,000) per match, Altaf said.
Yasir Hameed, Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Hafeez and Sohail Tanveer have been named in the "B" category and will each receive 175,000 rupees ($2,225) per month.
Rao Iftikhar, Abdur Rehman, Yasir Arafat, Fawad Alam, Khurrum Manzoor, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Samiullah Niazi, Sarfraz Ahmed, Nasir Jamshed, Umer Ameen and Azhar Ali are in the "C" category and will get 100,000 rupees ($1,270).
The 33-year-old Akhtar played only three twenty20 internationals in 2008, missing many matches initially due to a ban and then through injury. He was not given an annual contract last year following Pakistan's test and one-day series defeats in India in 2007.
Akhtar publicly criticized the PCB after bring dropped and was banned for five years last April. But an appeal later cut the ban to 18 months and imposed a fine of seven million rupees ($100,000).
Akhtar challenged the punishments in the Lahore High Court, which upheld the fine but suspended the ban to pave the way for his return to international cricket. A final decision on the appeal is yet to come.
He joined captain Shoaib Malik, vice captain Misbahul Haq, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Kamran Akmal, Salman Butt and Danish Kaneria in the "A" category.
They will all receive 250,000 rupees ($3,500) per month.
Twenty-six players received contracts that were also rated in "B" and "C" categories.
"The central contracts were devised by coach Intikhab Alam, manager Yawar Saeed and chief selector Abdul Qadir and the main criteria was seniority of the players," PCB chief operating officer Salim Altaf said from Lahore.
Winning bonuses have been stopped but the payment for each test will rise from 250,000 ($3,500) to 350,000 rupees ($5,000) per match, Altaf said.
Yasir Hameed, Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Hafeez and Sohail Tanveer have been named in the "B" category and will each receive 175,000 rupees ($2,225) per month.
Rao Iftikhar, Abdur Rehman, Yasir Arafat, Fawad Alam, Khurrum Manzoor, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Samiullah Niazi, Sarfraz Ahmed, Nasir Jamshed, Umer Ameen and Azhar Ali are in the "C" category and will get 100,000 rupees ($1,270).
The 33-year-old Akhtar played only three twenty20 internationals in 2008, missing many matches initially due to a ban and then through injury. He was not given an annual contract last year following Pakistan's test and one-day series defeats in India in 2007.
Akhtar publicly criticized the PCB after bring dropped and was banned for five years last April. But an appeal later cut the ban to 18 months and imposed a fine of seven million rupees ($100,000).
Akhtar challenged the punishments in the Lahore High Court, which upheld the fine but suspended the ban to pave the way for his return to international cricket. A final decision on the appeal is yet to come.
Comments