PSL local players are placed in categories (Platinum, Diamond, Gold, Silver and Emerging) that the PCB renews before each edition; for PSL 10 it renewed 87 local players, 13 of them in Platinum. The categories shaped the draft and, in 2026, the retention rules. The sources we checked do not give the pay attached to each category.
Last checked 26 October 2026.
How many players were in each category?
| Category | PSL 10 (renewed 17 Dec 2024) | PSL 11 list (28 Jan 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Platinum | 13 | 16 |
| Diamond | 16 | 11 |
| Gold | 30 | 32 |
| Silver | 16 | Not given |
| Emerging | 12 | 14 |
| Total | 87 | Not given |
Four players moved up from Diamond to Platinum for PSL 10: Hasan Ali, Mohammad Amir, Saim Ayub and Usama Mir. The PSL 11 Platinum list includes Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan and Naseem Shah.
How did the PSL 10 draft use the categories?
| Category | Draft requirement |
|---|---|
| Platinum | Three players, including at least one local and one overseas |
| Diamond | Three players, including at least one local and one overseas |
| Gold | Three players; at least three overseas across Platinum, Diamond and Gold combined |
| Silver | Up to five players |
| Emerging | Up to two players |
| Supplementary | Up to four players |
The draft was held on 13 January 2025 in Lahore; the PCB’s earlier category announcement gave 11 January, so we use the date in the draft-day report and Wikipedia.
How did the lists change between PSL 10 and PSL 11?
Platinum grew from 13 players to 16, Diamond fell from 16 to 11, Gold rose from 30 to 32 and Emerging from 12 to 14. These are differences between a PCB renewal release and a later category list, so they show direction and not an official movement count, and the Silver total was not given for PSL 11. In the PSL 11 retentions, franchises kept eight Platinum, seven Diamond, eight Gold, two Silver and five Emerging players; see the retention rules guide.
Who decides the categories?
The PCB announced the PSL 10 renewals, while a draft-day report says franchises voted on local players’ categories, could not vote on their own players, and sent split votes to a final committee. The release does not state how categories are decided, so we do not describe the criteria. The PSL 11 auction used four base prices from PKR 0.6 to 4.2 crore, and the sources do not map them to categories. See retention rules and salary and purse.