Pakistan Super League (PSL) season 8 player draft is expected to take place in November after the franchises unanimously rejected PCB’s auction model proposal.
Although the governing body of Pakistan Cricket is yet to confirm the actual date, November 18th has been pencilled in for the player draft, five days after the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia concludes.
PSL season 8 is scheduled to take place in various cities across Pakistan from February 9th to March 19th next year.
The eighth rendition of the competition could look very different due to player availability as there will be a plethora of leagues taking place in roughly the same window, some of which are more lucrative for foreign players than the PSL.
PCB’s chairman, Ramiz Raja, was wary of this hindrance and thus proposed an “auction” model for the selection of players so the top-billed players could be paid their worth to keep attracting them to Pakistan.
However, with that idea out of the window, PSL will once again rely on the players’ availabilities for their selection.
PCB was even willing to adopt a hybrid of auction-plus-draft but no solution could be reached. Team owners, however, have expressed willingness to continue discussing the auction model for future tournaments.
PSL 8 draft in November will feature higher salary caps which should help alleviate some concerns. After the finalisation of the names of categories, teams will be allowed to retain a maximum of eight players before the draft begins.
Lahore Qalandars will defend their title next season.
