PSL 12 retention rules: 7 players per team, Rs45 crore salary cap, auction on 23 January
All eight PSL franchises have agreed the PSL 12 rules: up to seven retentions, a catch for teams that keep seven, the salary cap and the key dates.
PSL 12 teams can keep up to seven players from last season, but a side that uses all seven must give up one of its most expensive stars. That is the headline of the rules all eight Pakistan Super League franchises agreed at a workshop at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, on Thursday, 29 October.
Last week the PCB opened the direct signings window and set the 23 January auction date. What is new now is the full rulebook: how many players a team can keep, how much it can spend and when it must decide.
How many players can a PSL team retain?
- Up to seven players, and that count includes the team’s direct signing.
- The catch: a team that keeps the full seven must release one player from the highest price category of the previous auction into the general pool.
- Deadline: retentions must be submitted by 13 January 2027, ten days before the auction.
The release rule is the interesting part. It stops the richest sides from simply holding on to every big name, and it means at least a few top-category players should reach the auction table.
PSL 12 salary cap and spending rules
- Salary cap: Rs45 crore per franchise.
- Higher cap: Rs50.5 crore for a team that makes a direct signing for PSL 12, keeps last season’s direct signing, or does both.
- Minimum spend: Rs36.5 crore, about $1.3 million, so no team can build a cheap squad.
Key PSL 12 dates
| What | When |
|---|---|
| Direct signings window closes | 23 November 2026 |
| Retention deadline | 13 January 2027 |
| Player auction | 23 January 2027 |
| Season starts | March 2027 |
A direct signing is one marquee player per team who did not play in PSL 10 or PSL 11, so expect franchises to chase overseas names who have been away from the league.
What the PSL said
PSL chief executive Salman Naseer, who chaired the session, said the franchises went through the rules clause by clause before agreeing. “What made today remarkable was not just what was agreed, it was how it was agreed,” he said, pointing to “unanimous buy-in across all eight sides”.
The PCB also wants the National T20 to feed straight into the auction. It said a player in form there could “force his way into franchise thinking in real time”, which gives young domestic players a clear reason to perform this winter.
The first moves to watch are direct signing announcements before 23 November, then the retention lists in January.
