PSL 2026 adds three new teams — Hyderabad Kingsmen, Rawalpindi Pindiz, and a rebranded Multan Sultans. Full ownership, squad, and auction breakdown.
Key Takeaways
- PSL expanded from six to eight franchises in 2026, with Hyderabad Houston Kingsmen and Rawalpindi Pindiz joining as brand-new teams after the league’s original ten-year franchise agreements expired.
- Sialkot Stallionz won a franchise slot at auction but was sold before the season began — the new owners rebranded the team as Multan Sultans instead of building a fresh identity.
- Rawalpindi Pindiz set a league record with a PKR 2.45 billion annual franchise fee and assembled a squad built around Mohammad Rizwan and record signing Naseem Shah.
- The tournament also introduced its first live player auction, replacing the old draft system, along with a new two-group format and a redesigned trophy called “Infinity.”
Ten years of a fixed six-team structure ended the moment PSL’s original franchise agreements expired after the 2025 season. What replaced it wasn’t a minor tweak — it was a full restructuring of how the league is owned, funded, and built. Two brand-new cities got teams, a third slot changed hands and identity within weeks, and for the first time ever, squads were assembled through a live auction rather than a draft. Here’s what actually happened, city by city, and why it matters for how PSL 2026 will play out.
Why the League Needed to Change
The original franchise deals were signed back in 2015 and ran their course by the end of 2025. When it came time to renew, five of the six original owners agreed to new terms under the PCB’s updated financial model. Multan Sultans did not — owner Ali Tareen walked away, citing financial losses and unresolved disagreements with the board.
That single departure did two things at once: it freed up an existing franchise slot for resale, and it gave the PCB room to add two entirely new cities to the league. Six candidate cities were shortlisted — Hyderabad, Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Gilgit, and Muzaffarabad — and on January 8, 2026, a live auction at Islamabad’s Jinnah Convention Centre settled which of them would actually get a team. Nine bidders showed up, and the bidding numbers ended up rewriting the league’s financial history.
Hyderabad Houston Kingsmen: A Decade-Long Wait Finally Ends
Hyderabad is Pakistan’s third-largest city, and it had never had its own PSL franchise until this season. That gap closed when FKS Group, led by US-based entrepreneur Fawad Sarwar, won the rights with a bid of PKR 1.75 billion per year on a ten-year deal. Sarwar also owns the Chicago Kingsmen in America’s Minor League Cricket, which explains the “Houston” tag attached to the new franchise’s name.
The team’s identity was unveiled at Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad on February 7, 2026, and the ownership group moved quickly to build a competitive squad rather than a slow-burn rebuilding project. Former Australian pace bowler Jason Gillespie was named head coach, bringing a calm, structured approach that suits a franchise starting from zero.
Hyderabad’s Key Signings
Saim Ayub anchors the batting as one of the most exciting young left-handers in Pakistan cricket right now, and he’s paired at the top with Marnus Labuschagne, signed directly for PKR 5.88 crore for his technical solidity. Sharjeel Khan adds proven explosive intent as an opener, while Kusal Perera gives the middle order an aggressive keeper-batter option. On the bowling side, Riley Meredith and Ottneil Baartman bring genuine pace variety, backed by retained local players Akif Javed and Maaz Sadaqat.
On paper, this is more than enough talent to make a playoff push in year one. The open question is chemistry — several of these players have never shared a dressing room before, and debut-season squads often need a few matches to find their rhythm.
Sialkot Stallionz: A Franchise That Won and Then Vanished
This is the strangest storyline of the entire expansion, and it happened before a single ball was bowled in anger. At the January 8 auction, OZ Group — an Australian-based real estate consortium led by CEO Hamza Majeed — won the eighth franchise slot for PKR 1.85 billion, briefly the most expensive PSL bid ever recorded. Pakistan cricket legend Wasim Akram was announced as franchise president, and Sialkot, a city already globally known for its sports manufacturing industry, finally had a team of its own.
Then, before the season began, OZ Group sold the franchise to CD Ventures. The new owners made a calculated business decision: rather than build a Sialkot identity from the ground up, they paid an additional PKR 200 crore to acquire the rights to the Multan Sultans name and brand. The team now competes officially as Multan Sultans, based in Multan rather than Sialkot.
It’s a rough outcome for Sialkot fans specifically — the city got a franchise and lost its name before playing a single game. From a pure business standpoint, though, CD Ventures chose an established brand with two titles (2021 and 2025) and an existing fan base over years of grassroots identity-building. If you see “Sialkot Stallionz” referenced anywhere in PSL 2026 coverage, that team is now officially Multan Sultans.
Rawalpindi Pindiz: The Most Expensive Franchise in League History
The Pindiz story is a direct consequence of Multan Sultans’ original exit. When the Multan slot went back up for auction, five bidders competed at Lahore’s Expo Centre on February 9, 2026. Walee Technologies, a Pakistani tech company, won with a record PKR 2.45 billion per year — nearly four times what Lahore Qalandars pays annually, and the highest franchise fee the league has ever recorded.
The franchise relocated to Rawalpindi, and the name “Pindiz” — drawn from the city’s local nickname “Pindi” — was revealed on February 22 through a teaser video shot on real Rawalpindi streets. It’s a deliberately unpolished, city-rooted name rather than a corporate label, and that choice tells you something about how the ownership wants the team perceived locally. Worth noting separately: Walee Technologies also holds PSL’s domestic broadcasting rights for 2026–2029, a PKR 26.11 billion deal, giving one company simultaneous control of a franchise and the league’s local TV rights — a first in PSL’s history.
Pindiz’s Squad: Built to Compete Immediately
Mohammad Rizwan captains the side as a retained player, bringing the calm, consistent wicketkeeper-batting that’s made him one of the most reliable names in world cricket. Around him, Pindiz assembled arguably the most aggressive bowling unit of any debut franchise: Naseem Shah joined for PKR 8.65 crore, the highest fee paid for any player in PSL auction history, while Mohammad Amir adds experience and two-way swing, and Zaman Khan brings retained death-overs expertise. Daryl Mitchell (PKR 8.05 crore) adds all-round batting stability, and Jack Fraser-McGurk, signed directly for PKR 4.2 crore, is currently one of the most destructive openers in world T20 cricket. Rishad Hossain rounds things out with leg-spin variety in the middle overs.
Based on the raw quality across both batting and bowling departments, Pindiz looks like a genuine title contender straight out of the gate — a rare position for any expansion franchise to be in.
How the New Eight-Team Format Works
Adding three franchises meant the tournament structure itself had to change. PSL 2026 replaced its old double round-robin with a two-group system: Group A contains Lahore Qalandars, Hyderabad Kingsmen, Karachi Kings, and Multan Sultans, while Group B holds Peshawar Zalmi, Islamabad United, Quetta Gladiators, and Rawalpindi Pindiz. Each team plays 10 group-stage matches — six within its own group and four cross-group fixtures — before the top four overall progress to the playoffs.
The tournament opens on March 26, 2026, with Qualifier 1 set for May 2 in Rawalpindi and the final on May 3 in Lahore. Match hosting is spread across six cities, with Lahore taking the largest share at 15 matches. Faisalabad hosts PSL fixtures for the first time in the league’s history, a small but genuinely notable footnote in this season’s expansion story.
PSL’s First Live Auction: What Actually Changed
For the first time in ten years, squads were built through real-time bidding instead of a fixed-order draft. Teams could retain up to four players before the auction opened, and the two new franchises were given the same four-player pre-auction allowance to keep things competitive with established clubs. A team purse was capped at PKR 450 million, extendable to PKR 505 million for a single direct overseas signing, and 888 registered players went under the hammer across four base-price categories at Lahore’s Expo Centre on February 11, 2026.
The bidding wars that followed produced some of the league’s most talked-about numbers — Naseem Shah, Daryl Mitchell, Fakhar Zaman, and Haris Rauf all became headline auction stories, with franchises competing openly for players they might once have simply retained under the old system.
A Few Details Worth Knowing
The “Pindiz” name choice wasn’t accidental — “Pindi” is how locals already refer to Rawalpindi, and the ownership wanted a name that read as street-level and city-owned rather than corporate. Hyderabad’s Niaz Stadium, meanwhile, is a historic venue with a genuine international cricket history, though most Kingsmen fixtures will still be played across Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Karachi given how the season’s schedule is distributed. And this season’s new trophy, called “Infinity,” was handcrafted by 18 artisans over roughly 2,600 hours, set with 1,600 crystals around a crescent-and-star design and eight emerald-cut gemstones — one for each franchise now competing in the league.
FAQs: PSL 2026 New Teams
What are the new teams in PSL 2026? Hyderabad Houston Kingsmen and Rawalpindi Pindiz are the two entirely new franchises. A third slot, originally won as Sialkot Stallionz, was rebranded as Multan Sultans before the season began.
Who owns Rawalpindi Pindiz? Walee Technologies, a Pakistani tech company, secured the franchise on February 9, 2026, for a record PKR 2.45 billion per year — the highest franchise fee in PSL history.
Who is the most expensive player signed in PSL 2026? Naseem Shah, bought by Rawalpindi Pindiz for PKR 8.65 crore, making him the most expensive player in PSL auction history.
Is Sialkot Stallionz still competing in PSL 2026? No — the franchise slot exists, but after a change in ownership to CD Ventures, the team now competes as Multan Sultans rather than under the Sialkot name.
For a closer look at how one of the league’s most successful franchises approached this new auction era, check out our full Islamabad United PSL 2026 squad breakdown. Official franchise and auction details can be cross-checked directly via ESPNcricinfo and Wikipedia’s PSL 2026 season page. Which of these new teams do you think makes the biggest impact this season — share your take in the comments.