The Pakistan Super League (PSL) has officially announced that the player auction for the 11th edition of the league will be held on February 11, unveiling key rules for all the franchises ahead of the much-awaited event.
Teams will be required to do bidding of at least Rs15 lakh for top tier players and players in lowest bracket will get a minimum bid of Rs2.5 lakh.
Franchises are required to have a minimum of two uncapped under-23 players to be on the squad with a minimum requirement to have one of them on the playing XI.
Players that are acquired in the auction will be eligible for two-year contracts with their teams.
Ahead of PSL 12, the franchises can retain up to seven players, after which there is a Grand Auction in which each team can retain five players with all the freed players then entering the auction pool of PSL 13.
Each team has been allocated a purse amounting to Rs450 million with an additional ceiling amount of Rs550 million for procuring elite foreign talent.
Earlier, there was a PSL auction workshop held at Gaddafi Stadium which gave stakeholders a detailed briefing about the auction process.
The categories of the players for PSL 11 are created to have a competitive and balanced draft.
Platinum players are the highest tier with the highest base prices, then Diamond players are high-value stars that are below the Platinum bracket. Gold is for the mid-tier players, Silver for experienced players, Emerging is for up and coming young local talent and Supplementary for back-up or replacement players.
Fans are especially excited about this year as the league is expanding from six to eight teams, with more opportunities for domestic and international players alike to shine in the PSL stage.
The structured auction and the expanded teams line-up promise an engrossing season, with the fans awaiting what stars will be joining their favourite franchises.
