The Pakistan Super League has confirmed it will ditch its long-running draft and switch to a straight player auction from the next season – a move administrators hope will simplify squad building and push wages closer to global market rates.
An official PCB release framed the decision as one designed to “enhancing competitive balance, increasing transparency, and providing players’ greater earning opportunities”. Months of back-and-forth between the six existing franchises and the board ended with Friday’s general council meeting, where the conversation finally turned into concrete change.
Key facts first
• Auction replaces draft in its entirety.
• Retentions cut from eight to four, one per salary band.
• Two expansion teams – Hyderabad and Sialkot – join, taking the league to eight.
• Team purse nudged up to US$1.6 m (about US$500,000 more than before).
• Each club allowed a single direct signing – but only if that player sat out last season.
• Exact auction date and Multan Sultans’ ownership still unresolved.
Why the shake-up?
The draft had worked well enough for a decade, yet it was creaking. Senior owners argued star players were effectively locked in, while newer investors felt they were shopping in the leftovers aisle. Adding Hyderabad and Sialkot stretched that tension. Something had to give.
The board considered a hybrid “drauction” – half draft, half auction – but in the end went the whole way. A senior official, speaking on background, said the hybrid idea “looked tidy on paper but nobody quite understood how it would function in the room”. That more or less sealed its fate.
What changes for the players?
Four retentions, one in each pay band – Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver – means Lahore Qalandars can keep either Shaheen Afridi or Haris Rauf in Platinum, not both. If they want both fast bowlers, they must manoeuvre one into a lower category, always assuming the player agrees. Salary bands for 2026-27 have not yet been published, so managers are already second-guessing how the board will grade their clients.
Players who are not retained fall into an open pool. Before the hammer goes down, Hyderabad and Sialkot can each pick four names so they do not start miles behind the established six. Whether that mini-phase is a quick draft or simple first-come-first-served list remains unclear, and franchise staff admit they are waiting on the fine print.
Direct signings – one per team, outside the auction – add a small wildcard. A franchise could, for instance, reach out to a high-profile overseas player who skipped last season. Think Chris Gayle in earlier editions, or someone of that ilk who fancies a late-career payday. Of course, budgets still apply; the new US$1.6 m cap is healthy by PSL standards but well below the sums seen in the IPL or Major League Cricket.
Owners divided, but broadly on board
Not every club wanted the same model. People close to Karachi Kings claim the franchise lobbied to keep six retentions, worried about losing brand faces. Islamabad United, meanwhile, were vocal in pushing for even fewer. The eventual compromise of four – one per band – leaves most parties equally satisfied or equally discontented, depending on who you ask.
“It’s the biggest single structural change we’ve made,” a long-serving coach observed. “Some teams will nail recruitment, some will mess it up, and the table will show that pretty quickly.”
Multan still in limbo
One loose thread is Multan Sultans’ ownership. Ali Tareen opted not to renew his lease, and the PCB initially said it would run the side temporarily. Enthusiasm cooled once Hyderabad and Sialkot fetched higher-than-expected prices, so Multan will now be re-auctioned. Bidders have until the end of February, though the board has floated extensions if due diligence drags on.
Next steps
The PCB hopes to stage the inaugural auction in late April, roughly six weeks after the international home season ends. However, television partners need firm dates and player agents want clarity on salary bands. Until those numbers land, negotiations remain theory.
In the grander scheme, the PSL is following a global trend: player auctions tend to reward marketable talent, make team strategies more apparent to fans and, crucially, drive higher broadcast intrigue. Whether it also narrows the on-field gap between rich and less-rich franchises will only be known after a couple of seasons.
For now, though, one truth stands: the draft era is over, and the hammer is about to fall.
