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Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, Salman Agha amongst players fined PKR 50 lakh each for T20 World Cup disappointment.
Ahmed Shehzad slams PCB’s decision to effective Pakistan players. (Picture Credit: AFP)
Out-of-favour Pakistan batter Ahmed Shehzad has slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) decision to slap a effective of PKR 50 lakh each on Pakistani players for his or her disappointing performances within the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. In the continued ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, Pakistan did not qualify for the semifinals under the leadership of Salman Ali Agha.
The Men in Green suffered a humiliating defeat by 61 runs against India within the Group A match played at R. Premadasa Stadium on February 15 after which lost the Super 8s match against England by 2 wickets.
A few days after Pakistan’s campaign got here to an end, the PCB decided to effective Pakistani players, but Shehzad isn’t completely happy with the PCB’s decision.
In keeping with him, a effective is injustice to some players who performed well within the tournament.
“I feel it’s a really silly thing to slap a effective of fifty lakh on the players who you (PCB) are paying billions of rupees,” Shehzad said on Geo News.
“After which there are players like Usman Tariq. He hasn’t earned 50 lakhs yet. So how can he provide you with a effective of fifty lakhs? And what’s the fault of Usman Tariq? What’s the fault of Abrar Ahmed? What’s the fault of Sahibzada Farhan? So there is no such thing as a point in slapping a effective. Under no circumstances,” he added.
🚨🚨M Amir , A Shehzad , R Latif openly condemned the choice to effective the players ❗-High-quality is injustice with some players and this isn’t the answer, quite the non deserving people should resign from top to bottom, and reduce their salaries pic.twitter.com/3hogtEBKN7
— SheR•ALI (@Sher__Ali) March 2, 2026
As per Shehzad, the choice to penalise every player isn’t the answer. Slightly, he wants the non-deserving people to resign from top to bottom and the PCB to cut back the salaries of players.
“I would love to see who’s stepping down. After so many horrific performances. The present management even got 2-3 events. So who’s stepping down from this? Is the chief selector stepping down along with his team? Is Aleem Dar stepping down? Is Asad Shafique stepping down? Or is Hassan Cheema stepping down? Or is Wahab Riaz stepping down? Or is Mike Hesson stepping down? Or is Salman Ali Agha stepping down? Who’s stepping down? We are usually not seeing any of that”, he said.
He questioned the PCB decision to pay PKR 46 lakh as a monthly salary to players and stated that their monthly salaries needs to be cut right down to PKR 10 lakh/month.
“All of the systems of our country (Pakistan) are already in front of us. It’s difficult for people to eat and drink (in Pakistan). In such a crisis country, you’ll be able to’t give a lot money to cricketers for these performances. You’re giving loads of money to cricketers. Just take a look at their performances. You’ve gotten brought an auction model to the PSL. Your player — Saim Ayub — who has not performed in T20s can be getting 13 crores. So your problem is that you simply are giving them 46 lakhs per 30 days of their central contract. And then you definitely are giving crores within the PSL. Stop this and invest this money in domestic cricket,” he said.
“Don’t effective them. That is my message and suggestion to the chairman of the cricket board. There isn’t any point in fining. It’s best to bring your central contract in such a way that their maximum salary should reach 10 lakhs, the performances of 3-4 years. After which the auction model that you may have done of PSL, these players don’t deserve it. This money needs to be used for something different,” Shehzad added.
In keeping with Shehzad, who was the member of the Pakistani team that won the T20 World Cup in 2019 and the Champions Trophy in 2017, the surplus money the PCB is paying to players needs to be invested in improving domestic cricket.
“You (PCB) are giving loads of money to the players. You might want to principally minimise this. You’ve gotten to repair this. What’s 50 lakhs? Where you may have given them 50 lakhs per 30 days, they offers you that salary for a month. There isn’t any problem. You’ve gotten to bring their salary to 1 million. Or you may have to do something concerning the 12 crores you’re giving on their auction model. And you may have to avoid wasting this money and invest it in children. You’ve gotten to take a position it in under-16s, under-15s, and under-13s. In class cricket, in university cricket, at club level, at first-class level, at grade 2 level. This money needs to be invested at a national level. Because they don’t have any performance. So you may have to do that,” he suggested.
March 02, 2026, 23:15 IST
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