By Staff Reporter
LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board on Saturday announced it had approved 10 bidders to vie for two new franchises in the Pakistan Super League after a technical evaluation of proposals from investors across the globe.
The auction for the teams is set for January 8 in Islamabad, following the PCB’s earlier disclosure that it had received 12 proposals from parties in the United States, Australia, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan.
“A total of 12 proposals were received from interested parties within the stipulated deadline from across the globe and were scrutinised by the PCB Bid Committee over the last three days,” the PCB said in a statement.” Following a thorough and transparent evaluation process, the PCB Bid Committee has qualified 10 bidders who have successfully met the technical criteria and now enter the second stage.”
These 10 technically qualified bidders will now proceed to participate in the auction scheduled on Thursday, 8 January, 2026 at the Jinnah Convention Centre in Islamabad, where the franchise rights for the two new HBL PSL teams will be up for grabs. “At the auction, the successful bidders will have the right to choose their franchise team names from amongst the following: Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Faisalabad, Gilgit, Muzaffarabad and Sialkot.”
PSL chief executive officer Salman Naseer said the league, which will expand to eight teams in the coming edition, “appreciates the strong interest shown by both local and international investors”. “The league looks forward to achieving another significant milestone in the expansion and evolution of the PSL as we now prepare for the eagerly awaited auction,” he was quoted as saying in the statement.
The move marks a key step in the growth of the PSL, launched in 2016, which has become one of Asia’s premier T20 cricket leagues, attracting top international players and boosting Pakistan’s cricketing profile amid security concerns that once limited foreign tours.
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