The Pakistan Super League (PSL), which is scheduled to begin on March 26, 2026 with the final on May 3, will enter its 11th edition. Pakistan’s premier competition has added two new teams, Sialkot Stallions and Kingsmen Hyderabad, for the upcoming season. They have also introduced a new rule of signing a player directly just before competition action, which was missing in the 10th edition.
The players’ auction will be held on February 11. Before that, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided not to telecast its league in India. They have decided not to sell the PSL media rights in India; In the previous edition, Sony Sports had purchased the rights to broadcast the games. This decision has come just after the dispute between India and Pakistan.
Pakistan Cricket Board has not got its own broadcast channel to broadcast the league. It failed to meet its reserve price in January after preliminary bids were completed. According to Pakistan media reports, the board had set a high price for the bid as it was expected to draw strong interest from media channels as the tournament was expanded from six to eight teams for the first time.
After the initial failure, they are yet to conduct a second round of bidding process to acquire media services. However, there has been no official confirmation as to when the second round of the bidding process will begin. Pakistan cricket is going through difficult times.
The tussle still continues between PCB and ICC
After months of dilemma over whether to participate in the upcoming T20 World Cup, the Pakistan government on Sunday posted on social media that its team will travel to Sri Lanka, where their group stage matches are scheduled, but will not play against India. Media rights have not been sold amid political disputes between countries.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has not commented on the matter and is expected to support the national government’s decision. He has not even sent any formal notice to the International Cricket Council regarding his ‘selective game’ in the T20 World Cup. His stance comes after Bangladesh was removed from the marquee tournament after refusing to travel to India citing security reasons. Pakistan was the only member to support him.
Will Pakistan cricket be closed?
If the Pakistan Cricket Board does not change its stance and does not seek approval from the ICC, then it could be a huge loss for its cricket aspect. As foreign players are likely to get clearance to participate in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). This could prove to be a big loss for the PCB, as it is believed that England’s red-ball players will not be given NOC by their board for the upcoming PSL season.
In short, the Pakistan Cricket Board is in shallow waters, and may even face a ban from playing cricket, and given their participation in the match against India, their revenue from the apex body could be withheld.
Also read: Steve Smith officially joins PSL team after failure in IPL 2026 amid rising tension between India-Pakistan
