New Delhi: The Pakistan Cricket Board has started to clear the dues of the team players which were kept on hold for then last few months because of the issues pertaining to the new central contracts. A PCB official confirmed that majority of the players who were offered new contracts had signed the document and their dues had been cleared dating back to June. Few players who have not signed till now will do it in the next few days and their pending dues will also be cleared.

The new contracts list was not announced until late September due to the differences between the players and the Pakistan cricket board, after the old central contracts expired in June 2023. It was left on hold as the Pakistan team left for India to take part in the World Cup 2023. The board gave in and announced big hikes in the monthly retainership of players. The PCB also confirmed that they would get a 3 percent share annually from the ICC revenue the board gets on a yearly basis.

Some of the players like Iftikhar Ahmed and Shan Masood and few others did not sign the documents as they felt unhappy with being placed in category D of the new contracts. The same players later relented after the board assured them that they would be promoted soon. Pakistan players had not been paid their monthly salaries while they were playing in the World Cup and a big issues was made out of it.

The relations between the board and the chairman, Zaka Ashraf also soured after the latter made some remarks regarding the team performance in the event. Pakistan team could not make it to the World Cup semifinals after losing five of the nine games, ending their campaign on a low. What followed was Babar Azam resigning as skipper of the team across formats.