PCB to slash players' salaries in PSL 6 due to coronavirus

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to slash the players' salaries in the upcoming Pakistan Super League (PSL) season, sources said Friday, citing financial constraints due to the pandemic.

According to sources, the PCB will cut 20% to 25% from previous salary caps for the PSL 6.

The overall players’ budget for each team will be $950,00 (or PKR152,000,000) as compared to around $1.2m (around PKR184,000,000) from last year, sources said.

PSL 6 is tentatively proposed to kick start from February 20 to March 22, with only two cities, Karachi and Lahore, as its hosts. The final dates and venues for the series are yet to be approved.

However, the matches are set to be held behind closed doors, and players will be staying in a strict bio-secure bubble throughout the tournament.

According to sources, the salary cap for the topmost category in PSL — the platinum category is proposed to be between US$130,000 to US$170,000. Previously the platinum category players would get between US$ 147,000 to US$217,000.

Players in diamond categories for season six are likely to get around $60,000 to $85,000, while Gold category players get a maximum of $50,000 for the season.

Teams will have $50,000 for supplementary pick while another $30,000 for other commercial expenditure.

Each team will have 18 players in the squad consisting of three platinum, three diamond, three gold, 5 silver, two emerging, and two supplementary players.