LAHORE: Leading cricketers like captain Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Younis Khan, Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul have not signed the central contracts with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as they have some reservations over deduction of tax from their salaries.

In addition to them, Azhar Ali, Abdur Rehman and Wahab Riaz have also not turned up to sign the contracts, Dawn has learnt.

The PCB has announced names of 31 players for the central contracts in May this year with 25 per cent increase for players of all the four categories.

The players seem unhappy as the PCB is deducting professional tax from their accounts at the rate of 25 per cent from the year 2009.

The players are in negotiation with the PCB to deduct the tax at the previous rate of seven per cent and for this purpose they are also requesting the PCB to hold talks with the government or the FBR to get exemption for them.

The players have the stance that the government should not treat them as doctors or engineers to apply the professional tax at the same ratio.

“Our playing age is ten to 15 years whereas doctors, engineers and other professionals work till 60 years of age or even beyond.

“They have their offices and other heads where they can show huge expenditure but in our case, the tax is being deducted on net income,” they said.

As the Pakistan team is gearing up for tough international competitions, morale of the players should not be hit by such issues.

The PCB and the government should take the matter seriously so that the players could focus on their upcoming assignments where they have to face teams like Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Australia before the mega event of World Cup.

It is also learnt that the PCB has abolished win bonus and some other incentives for the players.

However, the cricketers seem less bothered about these small incentives and are worrying about the professional tax.

Prominent among those who have sent their consent or willingness to sign the contract via SMS or emails are: Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Bilawal Bhatti, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shan Masood, Khurram Manzoor, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Talha, Junaid Khan, Sharjeel Khan, Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Amin, Ehsan Adil, Raza Hasan, Nasir Jamshed, Fawad Alam and Raza Hasan.

Zulfiqar Babar and Mohammad Irfan are in Saudi Arabia performing Umrah and could not be reached for comments.

Published in Dawn, July 5th , 2014