Kashmir Digits

With the Board of Control for Cricket in India announcing the new set of central contracts for its men cricketers for the year 2023, former India captain Virat Kohli has retained his spot in the topmost A+ category of players earning Rs. 7 crore per year.

An annual salary which is 12 times more than Babar Azam makes under the recent 2022/23 Pakistan Cricket Board central contract. The Pakistan captain is bracketed under the red and white-ball contracts category of players, who earn 1.25 million PKR (Pakistan Rupee) per month. Amounting to 43,50,000 INR per year. Which is almost 12 times less to what Kohli makes under the new contract.

The top tier salary in PCB contracts is less than half of what the C category BCCI central contracted players such Sanju Samson and Arshdeep Singh earn per annum. Other than Babar, the top tier category in PCB central contracts includes Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Imam-ul-Haq and Hasan Ali.

BCCI announced the updated contract categories on Sunday with the notable changes being an under fire batter KL Rahul being demoted to Grade B while all rounder Ravindra Jadeja’s promotion to A+ category.

Alongside Jadeja and Kohli, captain Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are other members of the top-tier category.

Hardik Pandya, R Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Rishabh Pant and Axar Patel are just below them in the Grade A category and will pocket around Rs 5 crore.