Some of Pakistan's leading players had raised reservations about their latest contracts — AFP After several days of impasse, a group of Pakistan's leading players including captain Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan agreed to sign the PCB's central contracts - though only after successfully negotiating changes in several clauses, according to ESPNcricinfo.
The group signed the contracts nearly a week after receiving them and just before flying out for the tour to Netherlands, after the PCB revised them on the day of departure. But ESPNcricinfo understands the players have signed on the condition that they will return after the Asia Cup in the second week of September to pick up discussions with the board over a couple of other clauses they remain unhappy about.
The PCB announced 33 central contracts this season, splitting between white and red-ball players for the first time 2022-23. As per standard practice the PCB handed the players their copies of the contract at the start of the pre-tour camp in Lahore. Unusually, several players across categories didn't sign immediately, seeking time instead to run the contracts by their advisers and lawyers before doing so. In the past, players have signed and returned the contracts straightaway.
Close to a dozen players in lower categories did sign the contracts immediately but a core group of senior players - Babar, Afridi, Rizwan are cross-format certainties, but the group also included Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman and Hasan Ali - wanted time to go through the contracts in more detail. These players are believed to have objected to multiple clauses in a contract that the PCB generally makes unilaterally, given there is no players association in Pakistan.
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