LAHORE (Dunya News) - All eight Pakistan Super League franchises convened at the Gaddafi Stadium Lahore on Thursday for a landmark tournament operations workshop that produced unanimous agreement on the core framework governing squads, player movement and the upcoming Player Auction for PSL 12.
The workshop was led by PSL CEO Salman Naseer and marked the most substantive collective session between the league and its franchise partners in the current cycle.
Discussions were open, candid and wide-ranging - covering Direct Signings, Player Retentions, Trade Windows, Squad Sizes and Salary Caps. By its conclusion, all eight franchises had reached full agreement on every major operational parameter for the season.
Retentions: A Date That Matters
The deadline for franchise player retentions has been set for 13th January 2027, ten days before the Player Auction. The timing is deliberate. It falls after the completion of the National T20 Silver tournament and during the National T20 Gold - meaning franchises will make their final retention calls with a full set of Silver results behind them and live Gold performances unfolding in front of them.
A domestic player in form on 13 January could force his way into franchise thinking in real time. This is what the pathway from national circuit cricket into HBL PSL looks like in practice: not a theoretical ambition, but a live, data-driven link between the two competitions.
Each franchise may retain a maximum of seven players, inclusive of their Direct Signing. As a condition of exercising maximum retentions, any franchise retaining seven players must return one player from the highest price tier of the last auction to the general player pool, ensuring the HBL PSL 12 Auction features elite-level talent available to all franchises.
Auction Rules
In what franchises described as a thorough and constructive process, the HBL PSL 12 Auction Rules were reviewed clause by clause and adopted unanimously by all eight sides. The Player Auction, only the second in HBL PSL's history, takes place on 23rd January 2027.
Each franchise’s salary cap going into the Auction is PKR 45 crore (approx. USD 1.6 million). A franchise’s cap rises to PKR 50.5 crore if it makes a Direct Signing for HBL PSL 12, retains last season’s Direct Signing, or does both. A minimum spend of PKR 36.5 crore (approximately USD 1.3 million) applies to all franchises.
Direct Signings remain open until 23rd November 2026. Each franchise may directly sign one marquee player who did not feature in HBL PSL 10 or HBL PSL 11.