LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday unveiled the most significant redesign of its player contract system in the board’s history — and, in one crucial respect, a structure that places Pakistan at the forefront of how the modern game is administered worldwide.
Pakistan is among the first in international cricket to build a contract framework that formally recognises the modern reality of the game that the three formats now demand fundamentally different commitments, and that players increasingly specialise.
As the global game continues to evolve, the traditional single-list model — where a Test specialist and a T20 franchise player are measured for the same grade — is increasingly out of step with how cricketers actually build their careers. Pakistan has chosen to lead that evolution, replacing the one-size-fits-all approach with a system that openly defines, prioritises, and protects each format on its own terms. This is not a cosmetic change to pay grades. It is a structural answer to the single hardest question in modern cricket administration: how do you keep Test cricket strong in an age of franchise T20, while treating every kind of cricketer fairly?
The defining feature of the new framework is that format commitment is now explicit and structural — not a matter of selectorial mood or informal understanding.
As per document made available, every contracted player is aligned to a defined format pathway. Some pathways centre on the red-ball game; others on white-ball or T20 cricket. A player’s pathway determines what the board asks of them, and what the board offers in return. The choice is visible, it is documented, and it carries real consequences — which is precisely what gives it value.
Crucially, the framework prioritises and deprioritises formats deliberately and transparently: Test cricket is actively protected. Because the longest format offers players the least earning opportunity outside national duty, the framework is deliberately weighted to reward those who commit to it — so that choosing red-ball cricket for Pakistan is a choice the system supports, not one a player makes at a personal cost.
As per document, white-ball and T20 specialisation is recognised, not penalised. A player whose value to Pakistan is in the shorter formats now has a clear, respected pathway — with league freedoms that reflect the realities of the modern game — rather than being measured against criteria built for a different kind of cricketer.
Format is left undefined. Every pathway carries its own obligations and its own opportunities, each calibrated to the market reality of that format. This is the formalisation of format prioritisation — and it is what makes the framework genuinely new on the world stage.
The new framework replaces those grades with five clearly defined tracks, each built around a format commitment rather than a pay rank.
Track AB — Dual Format (Test and ODI). Pakistan’s premier multi-format cricketers — the players who carry both the Test and one-day sides. This is the board’s highest commitment tier. An AB player can still be selected for a T20I, and when they are, they play and are recognised for it — but the board does not regard an AB cricketer as a short-format player. That call is only made when selection options require it, never as a default.
Track A — Red-Ball Specialist (Test). The dedicated Test cricketers. This track exists to recognise and protect players who give themselves to the longest format, and it carries permissions designed to keep them playing red-ball cricket at the highest level.
Track BC — White-Ball (ODI & T20I). The core white-ball track, for players whose value to Pakistan is across the limited-overs game. This is where most white-ball cricketers will sit, and it absorbs what used to be a separate ODI category.
Track C — T20I and Franchise Specialist. The dedicated short-format players, with the greatest freedom to pursue franchise cricket around their national commitments — a formal, respected recognition of T20 specialisation.
Track D — Development / NCA. A development track for the next generation, investing in young players through the National Cricket Academy and the wider high-performance system.
Two principles sit across the framework. First, a player is only ever measured against others in the same track — never against someone playing a different format. Second, each senior track has two internal tiers, so a player’s standing within their track can rise or fall year to year on performance alone, without anyone having to change the format they have committed to. The Development track is a single tier, reflecting its role as an entry pathway.
One feature of the new framework deserves particular attention, because it reframes how a board can support the longest format. For the first time, Pakistan’s dedicated Test specialists are being granted permission to play overseas first-class cricket — in the premier red-ball competitions of the world’s leading nations.
This is the opposite of sending players away to the shorter game. It is a deliberate investment in red ball quality: a Test cricketer who spends time in the most demanding first-class environments returns sharper, harder to dislodge, and better prepared for Pakistan. The permission is for red-ball cricket only — franchise T20 leagues remain closed to this group — and it makes the message unmistakable. Pakistan is not just protecting Test cricket on paper; it is actively building the conditions for its Test players to be the best in the world at what they do.
“Every cricket board in the world is grappling with the same question, how do you keep Test cricket strong in the age of the franchise game? At Pakistan, we have chosen to answer it with structure rather than words. I am proud that this framework puts us at the front of that thinking — and I believe it points to a direction the wider game will move toward in the years ahead,” Mohsin Naqvi, Chairman, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026