Pakistan Super League(PSL) is an annual Pakistani T20 league played in February-March. Similar to IPL, PSL also consists of franchise-based teams with players from different countries. This year, unlike earlier years, there is a top list of players who have joined PSL on massive contracts. PCB recently revealed the PSL 2024 players’ salaries and their contracts with the teams.
PSL was introduced in 2015 by the Pakistan Cricket Board. The league initially consisted of just 5 teams but was later expanded to 6 teams in 2017. The current season, PSL 2024 is scheduled to conclude on June 24, 2024 with the final match.
| PSL Teams | Captain |
|---|---|
| Islamabad United | Shadab Khan |
| Karachi Kings | Imad Wasim |
| Lahore Qalandars | Sohail Akhtar |
| Multan Sultans | Shan Masood |
| Peshawar Zalmi | Wahab Riaz |
| Quetta Gladiators | Sarfaraz Ahmad |
The PSL takes place each year around the time of February-March in Pakistan. This year the league started in February but got paused after the playoff due to the COVID pandemic.
The board was in a dilemma about whether to announce the winner based on the leader of the points table or not. However, they concluded that the tournament will resume in November this year
However drawing many similarities with the IPL, if there is one thing that stands out different from the Indian league is PSL’s player draft and contract.
PSL 2024 Players Salaries & Contracts
PSL each year conducts player drafts where local players as well as international players are auctioned to various teams. But here comes the twist.
All the PSL players are divided into category contracts – top players are allocated in the Platinum contract and have a particular wage as per that contract. PCB offers 5 types of contracts to the PSL players.
| Contract | PSL Salary (Pakistani Rupee) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Platinum | 2,30,44,000 | Each team can pick 3 players from this category |
| Diamond | 1,15,22,000 | Teams can choose 3 players from this category |
| Gold | 82,30,000 | A total of 3 players can be taken from this category as well |
| Silver | 41,15,000 | Franchises can choose 5 players from this category |
| Emerging | 16,46,000 | Each franchise can sign up to 2 emerging players |
PSL has become the 2nd richest T20 league in Asia as with each new season more top players join the franchises and raise the bar of the league, so did they this season.
Highest Paid Pakistan Super League Players 2024
1. Platinum
Platinum is the premium category in the Pakistan Super League, and it includes the highest-paid players in the league. This category of players, same as all others, earns the same amount of money, which is, in this case, 170.000 USD.
Each team can pick only three players from this category when drafting. This is also a category that includes all the star players in the league and world. During the 2024 draft, 18 players from this class were selected.
| Player | Team | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Kieron Pollard | Peshawar Zalmi | 2,30,44,000 |
| Babar Azam | Karachi Kings | 2,30,44,000 |
| Dale Steyn | Islamabad United | 2,30,44,000 |
| Collin Ingram | Islamabad United | 2,30,44,000 |
| Muhammad Hafeez | Lahore Qalandars | 2,30,44,000 |
| Mohammad Amir | Karachi Kings | 2,30,44,000 |
| Wahab Riaz | Peshawar Zalmi | 2,30,44,000 |
| Hassan Raza | Peshawar Zalmi | 2,30,44,000 |
| Chris Lynn | Lahore Qalandars | 2,30,44,000 |
| Sarfaraz Ahmed | Quetta Gladiators | 2,30,44,000 |
2. Diamond
Diamond is the second most expansive category of players in the league, and each player from this category earns 85.000 USD. In this category of players, each franchise can pick up to three players.
This is the second-best category of players in the league as well, and a total of 20 players have been in this category during the latest draft in PSL.
| Player | Team | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Faheem Ashraf | Islamabad United | 1,15,22,000 |
| Asif Ali | Islamabad United | 1,15,22,000 |
| Imad Wasim | Karachi Kings | 1,15,22,000 |
| Iftikhar Ahmed | Karachi Kings | 1,15,22,000 |
| David Wiese | Lahore Qalandars | 1,15,22,000 |
| Shaheen Afridi | Lahore Qalandars | 1,15,22,000 |
| Usman Shanwari | Lahore Qalandars | 1,15,22,000 |
| Shahid Afridi | Multan Sultans | 1,15,22,000 |
| Kamran Akmal | Peshawar Zalmi | 1,15,22,000 |
| Shane Watson | Quetta Gladiators | 1,15,22,000 |
3. Gold
The third salary category on this list is reserved for the Gold players. Same as was the case with the previous two categories, each franchise has the right to pick up to three players in the category, but in the latest draft, Lahore Qalandars got an extra in the replacement round.
Every player listed in this category gets a 50.000 USD salary, and the category itself has many of the top players in the world, including Alex Hales and Shahid Afridi. During the latest draft, 19 players were selected in this category, including five foreigners and fourteen locals.
| Player | Team | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Luke Ronchi | Islamabad United | 82,30,000 |
| Hussain Talat | Islamabad United | 82,30,000 |
| Aamer Yamin | Karachi Kings | 82,30,000 |
| Sohail Akhtar | Lahore Qalandars | 82,30,000 |
| Haris Rauf | Lahore Qalandars | 82,30,000 |
| James Vince | Multan Sultans | 82,30,000 |
| Junaid Khan | Multan Sultans | 82,30,000 |
| Darren Sammy | Peshawar Zalmi | 82,30,000 |
| Imam-ul Haq | Peshawar Zalmi | 82,30,000 |
| Umer Akmal | Quetta Gladiators | 82,30,000 |
4. Silver
Silver is the second least expensive category in the Pakistan Super League, and in this category, each player earns 25.000 USD. The category includes all the remaining above-average players in the league.
During the latest PSL draft, a total of 40 players were selected in this category, and out of these 40, 13 players were from foreign countries, and the remaining ones were local.
| Player | Team | Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Ammad Butt | Islamabad United | 41,15,000 |
| Rizwan Hussain | Islamabad United | 41,15,000 |
| Mohammad Musa | Islamabad United | 41,15,000 |
| Usama Mir | Karachi Kings | 41,15,000 |
| Salman Butt | Lahore Qalandars | 41,15,000 |
| Shan Masood | Multan Sultans | 41,15,000 |
| Ali Shafiq | Multan Sultans | 41,15,000 |
| Umar Amin | Peshawar Zalmi | 41,15,000 |
| Naseem Shah | Quetta Gladiators | 41,15,000 |
| Ahsan Ali | Quetta Gladiators | 41,15,000 |
Emerging Players of the League and Their Salaries
Emerging is the last and the least expensive category of the players in the PSL. Each play from this tier earns 7.500 USD, and it is a category that is created to bring the rising talent of the league some earnings and provide them with more opportunities.
According to the PSL draft rules, each franchise in the league must pick at least two players from this category, and during the latest draft, 16 players were selected and have been rookies in the league during the last season.
Quetta Gladiators are the defending champions but were eliminated in the Round Robin. While the 4 teams that have made it to the playoffs are Multan Sultans, Karachi Kings, Lahore Qalandars, and Peshawar Zalmi.
