PCB unveils financial overhaul for 2025-26 cricket season

Pakistan's centrally-contracted cricketers are expected to get big hikes, while the domestic players will see a drop in their earnings for the 2025-26 season.

A well-placed source in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said the recent PKR 18.30 billion budget approved by the Board of Governors includes PKR 1,173.49 million for the Pakistan team's centrally-contracted players and retainers, which is a 37 per cent increase.

The source added that the list of players who will get these contracts will also be increased from 25 to 30 this fiscal year.

This despite the fact that in the last fiscal period, Pakistan's performance in all formats has been disappointing. They failed to qualify for the knockout stages of the ICC T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy at home.

In Test cricket, Pakistan was whipped 0-2 by Bangladesh at home and played a 1-1 draw at home against the West Indies.

The source said that the budget for the contracts awarded to domestic players had been reduced by nearly 34 per cent -- from PKR 684 million to PKR 450 million.

PCB has revamped its domestic season by reducing the number of teams in the premier first-class competition, Quaid Trophy, to eight and have also scrapped the much-hyped Champions Cup events, which were launched last year.

PCB has increased the budget for women's cricket with the number of centrally-contracted players set to go up from 16 to 24, with their collective retainer amount rising by 121 per cent to PKR 69 million.

The women's domestic contracts budget has been slightly increased by four per cent, now totalling PKR 37.2 million.

The board has also decided to take over the management of 12 first-class grounds, looking after their maintenance and pitch preparation, which will be overseen by the staff paid by the PCB. The board has allocated PKR 93.6 million for this initiative.

PCB will spend an additional PKR six billion on completing the infrastructure development at three major stadiums -- Gaddafi Stadium (Lahore), National Stadium (Karachi), and Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium -- on which the board had already allocated around PKR 18 billion in the last fiscal year budget.