Pakistan Board Gets Bid For PSL Hyderabad Team; Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer’s IPL Salary Nearly the Same

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) officially expanded on Thursday with the induction of two new teams, taking the total number of franchises in the T20 league from six to eight.

A real estate consortium and a US-based aviation and healthcare conglomerate won the bids for the two new franchises for a combined price of $12.75 million (approximately INR 114 crore). OZ Developers secured the Sialkot franchise after placing a successful bid of Rs 1.85 billion ($6.55 million / INR 58.38 crore), while FKS Group, a United States-based firm, acquired the Hyderabad franchise for Rs 1.75 billion ($6.2 million / INR 55.57 crore).

Interestingly, the price at which the Hyderabad PSL team was sold is almost equal to the combined IPL salaries of Shreyas Iyer and Rishabh Pant. Iyer was bought for Rs 26.75 crore, while Pant fetched Rs 27 crore, taking their combined salary to Rs 53.75 crore — just slightly lower than Hyderabad’s franchise fee of Rs 55.57 crore.

The comparison highlights the massive financial gap between the IPL and other T20 leagues across the world.

In another striking comparison, the combined cost of the two new PSL franchises is still lower than the combined salary of the top nine players sold in the IPL 2026 auction, which reportedly touched Rs 118 crore.

Despite the difference in scale, the PSL continues to grow steadily, with the league set to feature eight teams when the new season begins on March 26.

The addition of Hyderabad and Sialkot marks a significant step in the PSL’s expansion as it aims to strengthen its global footprint and commercial value.