Kathmandu, Feb. 27: The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) has announced a pay raise for the players under central contract. The decision was made during the CAN’s central working committee meeting that took place on February 24th and 26th. Both male and female players will benefit from the increased salaries. 

Under the new pay structure, the men’s ‘A’ grade players will receive a monthly salary of Rs. 100,000, up from the previous Rs. 60,000. Similarly, women’s ‘A’ grade players will now get Rs. 50,000 per month. 

The CAN also released the list of players under central contract, with a total of 30 men and 19 women players categorized into A, B, C, D, and emerging categories. 

The senior men’s team captain Rohit Poudel, along with Sompal Kami, Karan KC, Dipendra Singh Airee, Aasif Seikh, and Kushal Bhurtel have been categorized in Grade A. 

As for the women’s ‘A’ category, the CAN retained Indu Burma as captain, along with Rubina Chhetri and Sita Rana Magar.

Furthermore, the CAN has fixed the monthly salary for Grade B at Rs. 70,000, for Grade C at Rs. 55,000, for Grade D at Rs. 35,000, and for emerging players at Rs. 25,000 on the men’s side. 

Kushal Malla, Gulshan Jha, Bhim Saraki, Lalit Narayan Rajbanshi, and Abinash Bohara have been included in Grade B. Grade C includes Binod Bhandari, Arjun Saud, Sandeep Jora, and Pratis GC. 

Pawan Sarraf, Sagar Dhakal, Anil Sah, Bibek Kumar Yadav, Aakash Chand, Basir Ahmed, and Surya Tamang are included in Grade D. Meanwhile, Dipesh Kandel, Rupesh Singh, Rijn Dhakal, Bipin Khatri, Dev Khanal, Arjun Gharti, and Hemant Dhami have been included in the emerging category. 

As for the women’s side, the CAN will be providing Rs. 35,000 for Grade B, Rs. 30,000 for Grade C, Rs. 25,000 for Grade D, and Rs. 20,000 for emerging players. Kabita Kunwar is the only women player in Grade B. Puja Mahato and Ashmina Karmacharya are categorized in Grade C, while Apsari Begam, Kabita Joshi, Sangita Rai, Kajol Shrestha, and Bindu Rawal are in Grade D. 

The women’s emerging players include Soni Pakhrin, Khushi Dangol, Jyotsinka Marasini, Kanchan Shrestha, Srishti Jaisi, Samjhana Khadka, and Sana Praveen. 

In addition to the salary increments, the CAN working committee also decided to appoint former captain Gyanendra Malla as the head coach of the Nepal ‘A’ team and former player Kalam Ali as the coach. The meeting also appointed Mahesh Prasad Rijal as the coach for the U-19 women’s national cricket team. 

The cricket association also decided to run a talent Hunt and training program in seven provinces to prepare for the ICC U19 Women’s World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in Nepal in 2027.