The players have been divided into four categories according to their past performance and will be given monthly salary accordingly. The contract comes into effect from January 1 to December 31, 2015. According to the cricket governing body, the contract will be reviewed in every six months and changes can be made considering the performance of the players.

National team skipper Paras Khadka, vice-captain Gyanendra Malla, Shakti Gauchan, Basanta Regmi, Subash Khakurel and Sharad Vesawkar have been classified in Grade A and will receive Rs 35,000 monthly allowance. Sompal Kami, Sagar Pun, Naresh Budhayer, Amrit Bhattarai, Binod Bhandari and Bhuwan Karki are in Grade B. They will get Rs 25,000 per month.

Jitendra Mukhiya, Aarif Sheikh, Anil Mandal, Rahul Kumar BK, Pradeep Airee and Mehboob Alam are in Grade C with Rajesh Pulami, Ramnaresh Giri , Karan KC and Raju Rijal in Grade D.

Khadka said getting central contracts was making things systematic. “It’s a way of going into a system. We have been uncertain about a system in the cricket and getting the central contract could just be a new beginning,” said Khadka.

“As cricketers, we are happy with the contract. This will make us move ahead into a professional system. This contract system should exist until cricket is here in Nepal. The current condition of Nepali cricket is not only the result of the hard work from this set of 22 players. There are other players as well who have been great contributors. We are hopeful that as time moves on, we will manage to bring

them in this slab,” added the Nepal skipper.

CAN Acting General Secretary Uttam Karmacharya said the big challenge now was to give continuity to the contract system. “We have been able to bring the players into salary slab through the fund that came from ICC High Performance Programme. But the fund will not remain with us forever. We have to look for other ways to give continuity to the system,” said Karmacharya.

CAN Chief Executive Officer Bhawana Ghimire termed the contract as “breakthrough”. “Binding players with the central contract is a stepping stone in terms of the professional development of Nepali cricketers. This is a beginning and we will come up with some modifications in future,” added Ghimire.

Division-III winners honoured

KATHMANDU: The Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) on Tuesday feted the national cricket team that lifted the ICC World Cricket League Division 3 title in Malaysia on October 30 with Rs 50,000 each. The Division 3 champions included skipper Paras Khadka, Gyanendra Malla, Sharad Vesawkar, Binod Bhandari, Subash Khaku-rel, Naresh Budhayer, Sagar Pun, Bhuwan Karki, Shakti Gauchan, Basanta Regmi, Sompal Kami, Amrit Bhattarai, Mehboob Alam and Aarif Sheikh. Coach Pubudu Dassanayayake, assistant coach Binod Das, technical analyst Raman Shiwakoti and physiotherapist Dinesh Bhatta were also honoured. The cricket governing body also bade farewell to the national team that left for the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 to be held in Namibia from January 17-24. The national team is leaving for South Africa on Wednesday as a part of their preparation for Division 2.