The Pakistan Cricket Board has taken close to 60 per cent of the appearance money earned by Lahore Lions during the recently-concluded Champions League T20 in India, paying Muhammad Hafeez and Co only $100,000 out of the $500,000 for their hard work.
According to reliable sources, the PCB pocketed $275,000 out of the appearance fees, while out of the remaining amount, $125,000 has been deducted as tax and the remaining $100,000 will be distributed among the players.
A source in the Lahore Lions team said their captain, Hafeez, however, managed to convince the PCB to allow the players to distribute the prize-money they won for qualifying for the main rounds.
"The money earned from playing in the main rounds comes to around $200,000 and this amount the PCB has said can be distributed by the players. This means the players have a total pool of $300,000 to distribute among themselves.
"Each player should earn around $17 to 18,000 from the Champions League," the source added.
The Lahore team failed to narrowly qualify for the semi-finals of the Champions League T20.
In the past, Sialkot Stallions and Faisalabad Wolves, which represented Pakistan in the Champions League, had a dispute with the PCB over the distribution of appearance fees.
Confident of getting cleared before the World Cup, says Ajmal
Pakistan's suspended off-spinner Saeed Ajmal for the first time bowled with his revamped action under the supervision of Saqlain Mushtaq.
Ajmal bowled a number of overs to experienced all-rounder Muhammad Hafeez, who also resumed batting in the nets after having to return home from the UAE because of a hand injury during practice.
"I am confident of getting cleared before the World Cup and my ambition is to make the World Cup squad," Ajmal, who bowled with high speed cameras filming his deliveries, said.
The off-spinner is expected to go for an informal biomechanic test of his remodeled bowling action in the next few days to an ICC-accredited centre.
Under the ICC rules once his new bowling action is cleared in the informal tests then the Pakistan Cricket Board has to send a request to the ICC to have Ajmal's bowling action tested officially in a formal test.
Meanwhile, Hafeez is said to have made a quick recovery from his hand injury and could be in line to fly to Dubai for the first Test against Australia at the weekend.
