Direct signings, drauction under consideration for PSL 11

While the Pakistan Super League (PSL) has not reached a decision on how franchises will stack up their teams this season, a new model, drauction, is under consideration. The PSL Governing Council meeting, where representatives of all eight franchises and the PCB were present, kept the option of auction and drauction, a hybrid of player draft and auction, open for further discussion at the next meeting on Saturday.

PSL Governing Council Meeting

“During the meeting, detailed discussions were held on various matters including the schedule of the HBL PSL 11, player retentions, adoption of the player auction or a unique combination of auction and draft termed as ‘drauction’ and the option of opening direct signings,” the official statement from the PCB read.

“It was decided that the HBL PSL 11 will kick off on Thursday, 26 March as the fans, players and stakeholders look forward to entering the New Era of the league.”

“The meeting was adjourned with the constitution of a working group to meet on Saturday to deliberate further on agenda items, whereafter the Governing Council meeting will be reconvened immediately as necessary.”

New franchisees concerned about player pool depth

In addition, the council is mulling the introduction of direct signings for the upcoming season, which has been confirmed to begin on March 26. These potential sweeping changes could be made to help the two new franchises, Hyderabad and Sialkot, which were sold for record-breaking prices on January 8, rope in players of their own choice. 

Under the existing model, teams are allowed to retain a set number of players from their previous year’s squads. However, the new franchises have flagged this as unfair, arguing that it leaves them with a watered-down player pool to build their teams from.

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