PSL 2026 Retentions: A Quick Look at the Players Locked in by Every Franchise

The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is set to grow bigger this year, as two new teams are joining the league to elevate its thrill and competitiveness. The existing PSL franchises, barring Multan Sultans, have announced their player retentions for the upcoming seasons. It was certainly a difficult decision for each franchise, as the new league rules have compelled them to retain only four players.

Keeping in view the limitations of the new rules, the PSL retentions have been announced by Karachi Kings, Islamabad United, Lahore Qalandars, Quetta Gladiators and Peshawari Zalmi today. The strategy of each franchise to retain players is seemingly different, as we have seen some high profile names being left out today. This makes the upcoming PSL 2026 auction very interesting, as teams will try to sign new players with a bigger budget.

In this article, we will take a look at the player retentions announced by five PSL franchises today. It should be noted that teams only had the option to retain four players, so the majority of franchises have tried to keep one player from each category to comply with the new requirements. Let’s take a look at the retentions announced by each franchise below.

Karachi Kings Player Retentions

During the last PSL season, Karachi Kings had 16 players placed across different categories. The Platinum category included skipper David Warner and Hasan Ali, while Abbas Afridi and Shan Masood were listed in the Diamond category.

Similarly, the Gold category of Kings featured Khushdil Shah, Aamer Jamal, Irfan Khan Niazi, Mir Hamza, Zahid Mahmood, Omair bin Yousuf, Shahnawaz Dahani and Arafat Minhas. In the Silver category, they had Mirza Mamoon Imtiaz, while in Emerging, they had Razaullah, Fawad Ali and Saad Baig.

Keeping in view the newly announced PSL retention rules, Karachi Kings have retained Hasan Ali in the Platinum category, Abbas Afridi in Diamond, Khushdil Shah in Gold, and Saad Baig in the Emerging category. These are interesting retentions from Karachi Kings, as fans are now expecting them to sign more strong players in the upcoming PSL 2026 auction.

Quetta Gladiators Player Retentions

Talking about Quetta Gladiators, they previously had 14 players listed in various categories. The Platinum category included Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Amir and Abrar Ahmed, while Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Wasim Jr and Usman Tariq were listed in the Diamond category.

The Gold category of Quetta had Khurram Shahzad, Haseebullah Khan, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay, Hassan Nawaz and Danish Aziz. Similarly, their Silver Category only had Ali Majid, whereas Mohammad Zeeshan and Shamyl Hussain were placed in the Emerging category.

From the options listed above, Quetta Gladiators made some smart choices by retaining Abrar Ahmed in the Platinum category, Usman Tariq in the Diamond category, Hassan Nawaz from Gold, and Shamyl Hussain from the Emerging category. Now, it would be interesting to see which players Quetta will pick in the upcoming auction, as they have a knack of building a strong squad for every season.

Lahore Qalandars Player Retentions

The PSL retentions announced by Lahore Qalandars are very interesting. Previously, they had a pool of 13 players listed in different categories. The Platinum category included captain Shaheen Afridi, Fakhar Zaman and Haris Rauf, while the Diamond category featured Abdullah Shafique and Mohammad Salman Mirza.

The Gold category of Qalandars listed Zaman Khan, Jahandad Khan, Asif Afridi and Asif Ali, whereas the Emerging only had Momin Qamar. The Silver Category of the franchise had three players including Mohammad Akhlaq, Mohammad Naeem and Mohammad Azab.

Lahore Qalandars made some difficult choices in the Platinum category, as it picked only Shaheen Afridi and left out Fakhar Zaman and Haris Rauf. Similarly, they picked Abdullah Shafique from Diamond, Sikandar Raza from Gold, and Mohammad Naeem from the Silver category. The franchise decided not to retain any emerging player, as they are looking to sign new talent in the upcoming PSL 2026 auction.

Islamabad United Player Retentions

Islamabad United have only retained three players including the captain Shadab Khan for the upcoming PSL 2026 season. Last year, they had a big pool of 15 players placed across different categories. In the Platinum category, they had the skipper Shadab Khan, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz and Imad Wasim, while no players were signed in the Diamond category.

The Gold category of Islamabad United had only four players including Azam Khan, Haider Ali, Salman Irshad and Rumman Raees. The Silver category had Mohammad Faiq and Hunain Shah, whereas Saad Masood, Mohammad Shahzad and Ghazi Gouri were featured in the Emerging category.

In the retentions announced today, Islamabad United picked Shadab Khan in the Platinum category, Salman Irshad in Gold, and USA’s Andries Gous in Silver category. They have left out many star players from the Platinum category, which means their management will go for plenty of new faces in the upcoming auction.

Peshawar Zalmi Player Retentions

Peshawar Zalmi have retained the superstar batter Babar Azam for the upcoming PSL 2026 season. Previously, they also had Saim Ayub in the Platinum category, which means the management had to let him go in favor of Babar Azam.

In the Diamond category, they only had Sufiyan Muqeem, whereas Arif Yaqoob and Mehran Mumtaz were named in the Silver category. Similarly, the Gold category featured Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Ali, Abdul Samad, Hussain Talat, Ahmed Daniyal and Ihsanullah, whereas Maaz Sadaqat, Ali Raza and Abdullah Fazal were listed in the Emerging category.

From the players pool listed above, the management of Zalmi retained Babar Azam, Sufyan Muqeem, Abdul Samad and Ali Raza for the PSL 2026 season. They left out several notable names, so we can expect a new Zalmi combination for the upcoming event.

Stage Set for a Landmark PSL 2026 Auction

Now that five existing PSL teams have announced their player retentions, the stage is set for the historic auction, scheduled to take place on February 11. It will be the first time in the league’s history that teams will pick players through an auction, similar to the format used by franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL). It would be interesting to see how big the franchises will go for top T20 stars, as plenty of high-profile names will be featured in the auction to get signed on big budgets.

Final Words

The PSL retentions announced today have given us a glimpse of the players who will represent five franchises in the upcoming season. These players performed well in the last edition of the tournament, which is why they have been retained by their respective teams. Now, the management of these franchises will start preparing for the PSL 2026 auction, which will feature top stars from around the world. It will be interesting to watch the strategies of these teams during the auction, as managing the budget while signing big names will be a key challenge for them.