The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday announced that the player auction for the 11th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) will take place on February 11.
Earlier this week, the PCB had announced that the upcoming season of the country’s premier cricket league would adopt an auction model, replacing the previous selection system.
The Cricket Committee on Sunday organized a detailed workshop for the upcoming PSL players’ auction at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, presided over by PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi and attended by representatives of all eight franchises, PSL officials and members of the T20 World Cup squad.
During the workshop, management shared a detailed presentation on retention mechanisms and the auction process and consulted with all participants, the PCB said in a statement. press release.
“It has been agreed that the HBL PSL player auction will take place on Wednesday, February 11.”
The PCB further revealed the base prices of the players, saying that “the auction price and minimum additional bids for the players should be in Pakistani Rupees.”
The base price of the upper tranche has been set at Rs42 million, Rs22m, Rs11m and Rs6m.
The cricket board said the minimum additional bid for each base price would be as follows:
- Rs250,000 for bid amounts less than Rs11m
- Rs500,000 for bid amounts below Rs22m
- Rs1m for bid amounts less than Rs42m
- Rs15m for bid amounts above Rs42m
“Franchises are free to bid higher than the minimum additional bid mentioned above for each base price,” the PCB said.
He added that the composition of the team would be “a minimum of 16 players and a maximum of 20 players per franchise”. The number of foreign players would be five to seven, depending on the size of the team. It would be mandatory for franchises to include a minimum of three and a maximum of four foreign players in the playing XI.
Additionally, it said teams would also be required to have at least two uncapped under-23 players in the squad and one in the playing XI.
The cricket board said, “Players retained or selected in the HBL PSL 11 player auction will be engaged on two-year contracts with their respective franchise teams. After the HBL PSL 11, franchise teams will be able to retain a maximum of seven players for the 12th edition of the tournament.”
“After the HBL PSL 12, there will be a grand auction in which each franchise will be entitled to a maximum of five retentions. Any released players will return to the players’ auction pool,” he added.
PCB said that franchises would also be allowed to directly sign a foreign player for the upcoming season, who did not play in the previous edition.
“The franchise team’s purse of Rs 450 million would be expandable to Rs 505 million to include directly signed foreign players.”
“The PCB will also contribute to the recruitment of elite foreign players,” the statement said.
While welcoming the major move from draft to auction, Naqvi said: “The player auction model is a historic step for the HBL PSL, providing players with better financial opportunities through increased salaries and a transparent acquisition process, while making the league more competitive and attractive. »
The upcoming PSL will also feature two new franchises – Hyderabad and Sialkot – taking the total number of teams to 8. It was announced that the 11th edition of PSL would be held from March 26 to May 3, 2026.
