Multan Sultans opt for zero retentions ahead of PSL 11 auction

KARACHI: Multan Sultans have opted not to retain any players from their previous squad ahead of the historic Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11 players’ auction, scheduled to take place on February 11.

For the first time in the league’s history, the player selection process has undergone a major overhaul, with the traditional draft system replaced by an auction-based model. 

Previously, franchises were allowed to retain up to eight players — a rule that remained in effect for the first 10 seasons.

However, under the revised regulations for PSL 11, teams were permitted to retain a maximum of four players across different categories, presenting franchises with tough decisions ahead of the auction.

A total of 18 Multan Sultans players were placed across various categories. The Platinum category included skipper Mohammad Rizwan, while Usama Mir, Iftikhar Ahmed and Usman Khan were listed in the Diamond category.

The Gold category featured Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Faisal Akram, Akif Javed and Tayyab Tahir. Yasir Khan, Amir Barki, Mohammad Junaid, Humayun Altaf, Ali Imran, Jahanzaib Sultan and Ubaid Shah were placed in the Silver category, while Shahid Aziz and Mohammad Zulfikar were listed in the Emerging category.

The Sultans confirmed their decision via social media platform X, announcing that they will head into the auction with a full purse.

“Multan Sultans will enter the PSL Players Auction with zero retentions and a full USD 1.6 million in the purse,” the franchise wrote.

For the unversed, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday announced shortlisting five bidders out of six for the highly anticipated auction of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Multan Sultans ahead of the historic 11th edition of the tournament, set to run from March 26 to May 3.

According to the cricket board, its bid committee carried out a "thorough and transparent" evaluation process, which found five bidders to be "technically qualified" to participate in the team's auction, the venue and date of which will be announced in due course.

The development came two days after sources suggested that former owner of the franchise, Ali Tareen, was interested in reacquiring the ownership rights of the 2021 champions.

According to the insiders, Tareen, who decided against renewing the ownership contract after the landmark 10th edition of the marquee league due to his differences with the PCB, has decided to partake in the team's auction.

Notably, the PCB formally invited bids for the ownership rights of the franchise by issuing an advertisement to attract interested parties last month.

The deadline for the submission of documents for technical proposals was set for January 30.