Pakistan national players competing in the much-hyped Champions one-day Cup 2025 tournament are still in the dark about what match fees will they get. The event begins on Thursday in Faisalabad and will feature prominent Pakistani players, but salary specifics are still pending.
Misbah-Ul-Haq’s Wolves will face Saqlain Mushtaq’s Panthers in the opening game on September 12 at Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. Pakistan’s Test vice-captain, Saud Shakeel, will lead the Dolphins, while former Pakistan T20I skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi will lead the Lions.
Shadab Khan, a former white ball vice-captain, will head the Panthers. The Stallions will be led by Mohammad Haris, captain of the Pakistan Shaheens, and the Wolves by former all-format vice-captain Mohammad Rizwan.
Participating national players unaware of their salaries for the Champions one-day Cup
According to sources, national cricketers with central contracts will only receive half of their international match fees for domestic games.
Previously, they were paid 322,310 rupees every One-Day International match, which was half of the ordinary match cost of 644,620 rupees. With no new agreements in place, it appears that national cricketers will be paid the same as domestic cricketers for this competition, which is held outside of the regular domestic season.
Domestic cricketers earn 60,000 rupees every match, while non-playing squad members earn 20,000, which is significantly less than Champions Cup mentors. In contrast, the Champions Cup mentors, Waqar Younis, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and Saqlain Mushtaq, have received substantially larger compensation packages.
Initially believed to receive 5 million rupees for the competition, they have now signed three-year contracts worth 5 million rupees per month.
This development places the mentors’ salaries above those of Pakistan’s top cricketers, including Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan, whose monthly salaries stand at 4.5 million rupees.
Meanwhile, PCB had recently announced the prize money for the Champions One-Day Cup. According to the PCB, the tournament champions will receive PKR 30 million, while the runners-up will receive PKR 15 million.
The matches will begin at 3 p.m. local time, except the Lions vs. Panthers game on September 16, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. The event consists of 13 league matches, followed by three playoff games over four days, with the final planned for Sunday, September 29.
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