The 2026 Pakistan Super League (PSL 11) will be the eleventh season of the Pakistan Super League, a franchise Twenty20 cricket tournament organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The season will mark the league's expansion from six to eight franchises, following the PCB's confirmation that the 2025 edition would be the last with six teams.[1] The expansion is part of a broader plan to increase the tournament's commercial value, with new franchises expected to cost between US$7 million and US$10 million each.[2]
The 2026 season will run from 26 March to 3 May 2026, the new window marks a slight shift forward from previous year's edition, which was played in April-May, shift is mainly due to the timing of the 2026 Men's T20 World Cup, which is scheduled to take place in February and March in India and Sri Lanka. This will be the longest season of PSL. [3] The matches are expected to be played across multiple cities in Pakistan, continuing the home-and-away format used in previous editions.[4]
Background
After the conclusion of the tenth season in 2025, the initial ten-year franchise agreements for the six original teams expired. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) engaged Ernst & Young to conduct a valuation of the league's assets to set new terms for the next decade (2026–2035).[5] In November 2025, five of the existing six franchises successfully renewed their contracts under the new financial model except Multan Sultans.[6] The Multan Sultans franchise owner Ali Tareen announced that he would not renew his agreement with the PCB, citing financial losses and disagreements regarding the league's management.[7] The rights to the Multan franchise reverted to the PCB, which decided to keep the franchise for 2026 season and seek a new buyer after the season ends.[8]
The 2026 season will mark a change in the player selection process, as the Pakistan Super League will adopt an auction system instead of the draft used in previous seasons. The PSL 11 Auction will take place on February 11th, 2026.[12]
For the HBL PSL 11 player auction, the league used a simple system to decide how much players start at and how much their price goes up during bidding. Players were divided into four starting price levels (base prices): PKR 4.2 Crore, PKR 2.2 Crore, PKR 1.1 Crore, and PKR 0.6 Crore.[13]
As teams compete for a player, the "minimum raise" (incremental bid) changes depending on the current price. If a player is priced under 1.1 Crore, the bid must go up by at least PKR 2.5 Lakh. This jump increases to PKR 5 Lakh for players under 2.2 Crore, and PKR 10 Lakh for those under 4.2 Crore. Once a player's price crosses the 4.2 Crore mark, every new bid must be at least PKR 15 Lakh higher than the previous one.
Format
The Pakistan Super League season 2026 is likely to be played in three phases, with no playoff system. In the first Phase, which is the League stage, all eight teams will play each other once. The second Phase, the Group stage, features two Groups of four teams each, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the next round. The third phase is the Knockout stage, where the top two teams from each group face off in a single-elimination bracket. The top two teams from the knockout stage will advance to the final.[14]
Broadcast
The PCB has officially opened the bidding process for the PSL domestic media rights, transitioning to a new four-year cycle that spans the 2026 to 2029 seasons. Prospective broadcasters and digital platforms have until February 4 to submit bids for the television and streaming rights, which are currently restricted to the Pakistani market. This long-term strategic shift aims to secure financial stability and enhance the league's commercial value, with 95% of the revenue set to be distributed among the franchises.
Prize money
The champions will receive US$500,000 which is the same as the previous edition. While, the runner-up team will receive US$300,000, which is an increase from the last year's US$200,000 reward. Moreover, a US$200,000 reward will be awarded to the “best franchise contributing towards cricket development".[15]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
