LAHORE: The sale of international media rights for the 11th edition of the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) were sold for a record price, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Tuesday.

“The PSL today [Feb 3, 2026] announced the successful sale of its International Media Rights for the upcoming season, marking another significant milestone in the league’s continued global expansion. The one-year agreement for Global Media Rights for PSL 11, minus India Region, will be awarded to Walee Techn­ologies who was the highest successful bidder who exceeded PCB’s reserve price,” the PCB said in an announcement.

“On a comparable, equivalent basis for the same regions, this represents a 149% increase in value compared to the previous cycle, highlighting the growing brand value and reach of PSL worldwide. This substantial uplift underscores the league’s rising stature as one of the world’s leading T20 tournaments,” added the announcement.

It may be mentioned here that the PCB could not get even the reserve price in its first attempt to sell the media rights a couple of weeks ago.

Dawn has learnt that the PCB in its second attempt, which proved successful, reduced the reserve price to around $3 million from around $4 million and as a result got a successful deal that fetched around $3.20 million, which looks attractive if considered that India’s region is not included.

The PCB was surprised by the deal, which did not include India’s region of around 1.5 billion population. Otherwise it would have fetched more.

It is learnt that the decision to exclude India was taken in the backdrop of the ongoing tensions between the neighbouring countries in which Pakistan refused to play India in their highly-anticipated ICC T20 World Cup match scheduled to be staged in Colombo on Feb 15.

Expressing his views on the sale of media rights, PSL chief executive Salman Naseer said:

“We are extremely pleased with the outcome of the Intern­ational Media Rights sale, which has delivered a remarkable 149% increase over the last cycle for the same regions. This growth is a strong validation of the PSL brand, its competitive quality, and its increasing appeal to cricket fans around the world.

“The PSL continues to attract strong global interest, and this agreement reinforces our confidence in the league’s long-term commercial trajectory and its ability to deliver value across diverse international markets,” he added.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2026