Virat Kohli's salary nearly equals 'entire' 19-man Pakistan cricket team's yearly earnings

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently anunced men’s central contracts list for 2020-21. Fast-bowler Shaheen Afridi and Test captain Azhar Ali were promoted from category B to A, joining Babar Azam in top category.  likes of Iftikhar Ahmad and Naseem Shah were  two new faces in 18-player list for season.

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Virat Kohli's annual salary is almost similar to entire Pakistan's team's combined salaries

However, some table emissions included Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz and Hasan Ali. Former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed and Yasir Shah have been demoted from category A to B. As soon as PCB anunced contract list and retainers fee, fans on Twitter started comparing fees of India and Pakistan players. Let's take a look at just how big a difference re is between retainers fees of two cricket boards.

PCB Central contract has been divided into three categories, A, B and C. Here are how salary divide has been made by PCB on basis of se categories:

A Category: 1.32 crore PKR (USD 81,576) per year

B Category: 90 lakh PKR (USD 55,627) per year

C Category: 66 lakh PKR (USD 40,793) per year

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As for BCCI central contracts, re are four grades, A+, A, B and C. Here's how BCCI has divided its players into se categories and ir respective salaries:

Grade A+: INR 7 crore (USD 927,336) per year

Grade A: INR 5 crore (USD 662,383) per year

Grade B: INR 3 crore (USD 397,430) per year

Grade C: INR 1 crore (USD 132,476) per year

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When a comparison is done between top grades in both contracts (A+ in BCCI and A in PCB), massive dichotomy in salaries of two boards is visible. While Pakistan's top three are earning nearly USD 280,000 combined in Grade A contract as per current rate, a single player in  BCCI paygrade (B) earns nearly USD 400,000 annually.

Overall, PCB will be approximately spending about PKR 157 million annually on centrally contracted players in category A, B and C, which roughly translates to about USD 990,000. This amount is only around $63,000 more than what only India captain Virat Kohli earns annually through his BCCI contract, 

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IM COURTESY: PTI/ICC TWITTER