PSL may feature two more teams from the next edition

KARACHI: The 11th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), scheduled to be held next year, may feature eight teams, tournament COO Salman Naseer said on Thursday.

Pakistan’s marquee T20 franchise league was first staged in 2016, featuring five teams – Islamabad United, Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars, Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators – before being expanded to six sides with the inclusion of Multan Sultans in 2018.

The tournament has since then been played with six teams with the speculations of its expansion rising occasionally.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had also asserted that the upcoming 10th edition of the marquee league will be the last featuring six teams and that two more teams would be added from the subsequent edition in 2026.

Meanwhile, as per the latest development, former PCB COO Naseer, who was appointed as the COO of PSL in November last year, provided an update on the expansion of the league, stating that two more teams could be added by the end of this year.

"By the end of this year, we might get two more teams," Naseer told local media on Thursday.

"We started at a time when no cricket was happening in Pakistan. The challenge was to bring it back.

"Now that we’ve successfully brought cricket back to traditional centres, the next step is expanding beyond these four cities (Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi and Multan)."

The PSL, traditionally held in the February-March window each year, faces stiff competition from South Africa’s SA20 and the UAE's International League T20 due to cash-heavy Indian Premier League (IPL) ownership influence.

"This year will be an interesting test, and with more teams, we anticipate a bigger window," Naseer added.

"Some of our rights are up for valuation after this PSL. A lot will depend on the data we gather."