LAHORE: The philosophy of professionalism and its connection with performance, which, in turn, provides big rewards and incentives to the best-performing cricketers, is the essence of the 2020-21 domestic cricket season, which commences on 30th September.

Once the lowly paid top domestic cricket performers now have the opportunity to earn as high as Rs 3.2 million, which is 83 percent more than 2019-20, and as low as Rs 1.8 million, still a seven percent increase from what the players in the highest category received last year.

With each of the 10 A+ category players to receive Rs 150,000 as monthly retainer for 12 months and a match fee of Rs 40,000 for National T20 Cup and Pakistan Cup each and Rs 60,000 for Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, players maintaining and displaying high levels of professionalism throughout the season will earn Rs 3.2 million.

Players can increase their earnings if they reach the finals, which will guarantee them additional match fee as well as share in the prize moneys.

Similarly, monthly retainer of D-category domestic players is Rs 40,000 but they will get the same match fee as the highest category player. This, in turn, means any D category player who features in all the 30 First XI league matches will earn Rs 1.8 million. These numbers will increase if a player's side reaches the finals as this will mean more matches and share in prize moneys.

Last year, all the domestic contracted First XI players had received a flat monthly retainer of Rs 50,000 and match fee of Rs 40,000 for white-ball cricket and Rs 75,000 for red-ball cricket.

Director - High Performance, Nadeem Khan said: "While finalising the 2020-21 domestic calendar, we not only had an eye on the three global white-ball events, we were also mindful that we had to improve our contracts. The PCB is aware that Pakistan cricketers are not the highest-paid in the world, but it is our endeavour to slowly and gradually improve their contracts so that they can get best returns for their talent and also plan their futures."

The 2020-21 and enhanced monthly retainer structure is:

Category A+ = 10 players, Rs 150,000 per month

Category A = 38 players, Rs 85,000 per month

Category B = 48 players, Rs 75,000 per month

Category C = 72 players, Rs 65,000 per month

Category D = 24 players, Rs 40,000 per month.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020