ISLAMABAD: Hyderabad and Sialkot will join the eleventh edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) as its latest franchises after they were bought for record prices at an auction organized by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday. 

The PCB had shortlisted 10 bidders for the live auction held at Islamabad’s Jinnah Convention Center on Thursday evening. FKS, an aviation and health care conglomerate based in the US who also run the Chicago Kingsmen team, bought the Hyderabad franchise for a whopping Rs1.75 billion [$6.2 million]. 

The other winner was OZ Developers, a real estate consortium, which bought the Sialkot franchise for Rs1.85 billion [$6.55 million] at the auction. Both prices were the highest amount paid for a PSL franchise. 

“The New Era is here like never before,” the PCB wrote on social media platform X. 

“Hyderabad and Sialkot are the two new teams in #HBLPSL!“

Pakistan’s telecommunications giant Jazz and Inverex Group, a leading player in the solar energy sector, were also among the 10 qualified bidders. 

The PSL is Pakistan’s premier T20 cricket league which features a mix of local and international players. The league already has six city-based teams which include Karachi Kings, Multan Sultans, Lahore Qalandars, Islamabad United, Peshawar Zalmi and Quetta Gladiators. 

PCB will run the Multan Sultans team for the 11th edition before looking for a potential buyer. The previous owner of Multan Sultans, Ali Tareen, announced last month he was walking away from his ownership of the franchise. 

The decision came after a bitter public spat between Tareen and the PCB over how it managed the cricket league. 

The 11th edition of the league is set to begin from Mar. 26 while the final is expected to be played on May 3, as per the PCB’s schedule.