Punjab Cricket Association offers central contracts to 30 domestic cricketers

The Punjab Cricket Association will now be offering central contracts to its 30 domestic players for the 2020-21 season.

‘A’ category will have 10 players, who will be paid Rs 8 lakh per annum, while ‘B’ category will also consist of 10 players and will be paid Rs 6 lakh per annum. (representative image)

Soon after taking charge as the president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Sourav Ganguly, had made it clear that he will 'change the lives' of the domestic cricketers, and even promised a central contract.

And some of the state associations have decided to initiate the process already. After Uttarakhand Cricket Association decided to offer contracts to the players for the season, the Punjab Cricket Association has followed suit.

The PCA will now be offering central contracts to its 30 top performing domestic players for the 2020-21 season, its secretary Puneet Bali said. On Saturday, the association held its first apex council meeting in Mohali, where the new move was cleared.

The players will be divided into A B and C categories.

‘A’ category will have 10 players, who will be paid Rs 8 lakh per annum, while ‘B’ category will also consist of 10 players and will be paid Rs 6 lakh per annum.

The category ‘C will comprise another set of 10 players of under 16 and under 19, who will be paid a monthly remuneration of Rs 10,000.

The players for these central contracts will be chosen on the basis of performance during the cricket season and a sub-committee has been constituted to make the rules and to chalk out the modalities.

Bali further announced that a state-of-the-art academy will come up at the PCA stadium.

With inputs from PTI