The Pakistan Super League, also known as the PSL, is a seasonal T20 competition that only takes place in February and March.
There’s always a lot of comparison between IPL and PSL. While top players usually get a million-dollar salary in the IPL, you must have some questions in your mind about who is the most expensive player in PSL 2023?
There were five categories in the PSL 2023 draft. Players were divided into all these categories and every player in a category will get the same amount of money. Let’s talk about each category in detail.
Various Types Of Payment Contracts:
Every year, the Pakistan Super League has player selections during which domestic and foreign professionals are given off to multiple teams. So here is the catch.
To PSL professionals, PCB grants five distinct kinds of contractual agreements, which are as follows.
Highest Paid Players (PKR)
Here are PSL 8 most expensive players:
| Player Name | Team | Salary (PKR) |
| Babar Azam | Karachi Kings | 3 Crore |
| Imad Wasim | Karachi Kings | 3 Crore |
| Chris Jordan | Karachi Kings | 3 Crore |
| Hasan Ali | Islamabad United | 3 Crore |
| Asif Ali | Islamabad United | 3 Crore |
| Colin Munro | Islamabad United | 3 Crore |
| Shaheen Shah Afridi | Lahore Qalandars | 3 Crore |
| Rashid Khan | Lahore Qalandars | 3 Crore |
| Fakhar Zaman | Lahore Qalandars | 3 Crore |
| Sarfraz Ahmed | Quetta Gladiators | 3 Crore |
| James Vince | Quetta Gladiators | 3 Crore |
| Jason Roy | Quetta Gladiators | 3 Crore |
| Wahab Riaz | Peshawar Zalmi | 3 Crore |
| Liam Livingstone | Peshawar Zalmi | 3 Crore |
| Hazar Ullah Zazai | Peshawar Zalmi | 3 Crore |
| Muhammad Rizwan | Multan Sultan | 3 Crore |
| Rille Rossouw | Multan Sultan | 3 Crore |
| Tim David | Multan Sultan | 3 Crore |
Salary of Platinum Players
Platinum is the most premium category in the Pakistan Super League 2023 and includes the highest-paid players in PSL. Talking about psl platinum category 2023 price, every player in this category gets $170,000 USD (PKR 3 crore). Each team can only pick three players from this category in the draft. This category includes all the star players in the world, including the number one T20 batsman Babar Azam. A total of 18 players has been selected in the platinum category in the Pakistan Super League 2023 draft.
Here is the list of PSL highest-paid players:
| Player Name | Team | Salary (USD) |
| Babar Azam | Karachi Kings | $170,000 |
| Imad Wasim | Karachi Kings | $170,000 |
| Chris Jordan | Karachi Kings | $170,000 |
| Hasan Ali | Islamabad United | $170,000 |
| Asif Ali | Islamabad United | $170,000 |
| Colin Munro | Islamabad United | $170,000 |
| Shaheen Shah Afridi | Lahore Qalandars | $170,000 |
| Rashid Khan | Lahore Qalandars | $170,000 |
| Fakhar Zaman | Lahore Qalandars | $170,000 |
| Sarfraz Ahmed | Quetta Gladiators | $170,000 |
| James Vince | Quetta Gladiators | $170,000 |
| Jason Roy | Quetta Gladiators | $170,000 |
| Wahab Riaz | Peshawar Zalmi | $170,000 |
| Liam Livingstone | Peshawar Zalmi | $170,000 |
| Hazar Ullah Zazai | Peshawar Zalmi | $170,000 |
| Muhammad Rizwan | Multan Sultan | $170,000 |
| Rille Rossouw | Multan Sultan | $170,000 |
| Tim David | Multan Sultan | $170,000 |
Salary of Diamond Players
Diamond is the second most expensive category in PSL. Each player gets $85,000 USD (PKR 1.5 crore) in this category. In the diamond category, every franchise can pick up to three players but Multan Sultans and Quetta Gladiators got one additional in PSL Mini Draft. After platinum, this is the most premium category in the Pakistan Super League. A total of 20 players including star bowlers Muhammad Amir and Shadab Khan have been selected in this category.
Here is the PSL 8 Diamond players list and their salaries:
| Player Name | Team | Salary (USD) |
| Imran Tahir | Multan Sultans | $85,000 |
| Sohaib Maqsood | Multan Sultans | $85,000 |
| David Willey | Multan Sultans | $85,000 |
| Shadab Khan | Islamabad United | $85,000 |
| Faheem Ashraf | Islamabad United | $85,000 |
| Marchant de lange | Islamabad United | $85,000 |
| Mohammad Hafeez | Lahore Qalandars | $85,000 |
| Haris Rauf | Lahore Qalandars | $85,000 |
| David Wiese | Lahore Qalandars | $85,000 |
| Mohammad Nawaz | Quetta Gladiators | $85,000 |
| Iftikhar Ahmad | Quetta Gladiators | $85,000 |
| James Faulkner | Quetta Gladiators | $85,000 |
| Shimron Hetmyer | Quetta Gladiators | $85,000 |
| Shoaib Malik | Peshawar Zalmi | $85,000 |
| Sherfane Rutherford | Peshawar Zalmi | $85,000 |
| Haider Ali | Peshawar Zalmi | $85,000 |
| Mohammad Amir | Karachi Kings | $85,000 |
| M. Nabi | Karachi Kings | $85,000 |
| Lewis Gregory | Karachi Kings | $85,000 |
Salary of Gold Players
The third category in the PSL 2023 draft is Gold. Every franchise can pick up to three players in this category but Lahore Qalandars got one extra in the replacement round. Each player in this category gets $50,000 USD (PKR 88 lac). This category includes many of the top players in the world including Alex Hales and Shahid Afridi. 19 players including five foreigners and fourteen local players have been selected in this category to play in the Pakistan Super League eighth edition.
Here are the Gold category players of PSL 8 and their salaries:
| Player Name | Team | Salary (USD) |
| Khushdil Shah | Multan Sultans | $50,000 |
| Shahnawaz Dhani | Multan Sultans | $50,000 |
| Shan Masood | Multan Sultans | $50,000 |
| Alex Hales | Islamabad United | $50,000 |
| Mohammad Wasim Jr. | Islamabad United | $50,000 |
| Azam Khan | Islamabad United | $50,000 |
| Abdullah Shafiq | Lahore Qalandars | $50,000 |
| Phil Salt | Lahore Qalandars | $50,000 |
| Harry Brook | Lahore Qalandars | $50,000 |
| Ben Dunk | Lahore Qalandars | $50,000 |
| Shahid Afridi | Quetta Gladiators | $50,000 |
| Mohammad Hasnain | Quetta Gladiators | $50,000 |
| Naseem Shah | Quetta Gladiators | $50,000 |
| Saqib Mehmood | Peshawar Zalmi | $50,000 |
| Hussain Talat | Peshawar Zalmi | $50,000 |
| Usman Qadir | Peshawar Zalmi | $50,000 |
| Joe Clarke | Karachi Kings | $50,000 |
| Sharjeel Khan | Karachi Kings | $50,000 |
| Aamer Yamin | Karachi Kings | $50,000 |
Salary of Silver Players
The second least expensive category in the Pakistan Super League is silver. In this category, each player gets $25,000 USD (PKR 44 lac). This category includes all the remaining above-average players. A total of 40 players have been selected in this category, out of them 13 are foreign players and the remaining are local.
Here are the Silver category players of PSL 2023 and their salaries:
| Player Name | Team | Salary (USD) |
| Rumman Raees | Multan Sultans | $25,000 |
| Asif Afridi | Multan Sultans | $25,000 |
| Anwar Ali | Multan Sultans | $25,000 |
| Rovman Powell | Multan Sultans | $25,000 |
| Imran Khan Sr. | Multan Sultans | $25,000 |
| Rizwan Hussain | Multan Sultans | $25,000 |
| Johnson Charles | Multan Sultans | $25,000 |
| Dominic Drakes | Multan Sultans | $25,000 |
| Paul Stirling | Islamabad United | $25,000 |
| Muhammad Akhlaq | Islamabad United | $25,000 |
| Reece Topley | Islamabad United | $25,000 |
| Danish Aziz | Islamabad United | $25,000 |
| Zafar Gohar | Islamabad United | $25,000 |
| Musa Khan | Islamabad United | $25,000 |
| Zahir Khan | Islamabad United | $25,000 |
| Umar Akmal | Quetta Gladiators | $25,000 |
| Sohail Tanvir | Quetta Gladiators | $25,000 |
| Ben Duckett | Quetta Gladiators | $25,000 |
| Khurram Shehzad | Quetta Gladiators | $25,000 |
| Luke Wood | Quetta Gladiators | $25,000 |
| Will Smeed | Quetta Gladiators | $25,000 |
| Ali Imran | Quetta Gladiators | $25,000 |
| Muhammad Ilyas | Karachi Kings | $25,000 |
| Umaid Asif | Karachi Kings | $25,000 |
| Rohail Nazir | Karachi Kings | $25,000 |
| Muhammad Imran Jr. | Karachi Kings | $25,000 |
| Sahibzada Farhan | Karachi Kings | $25,000 |
| Jordan Thompson | Karachi Kings | $25,000 |
| Sohail Akhtar | Lahore Qalandars | $25,000 |
| Ahmad Daniyal | Lahore Qalandars | $25,000 |
| Zeeshan Ashraf | Lahore Qalandars | $25,000 |
| Dean Foxcroft | Lahore Qalandars | $25,000 |
| Kamran Ghulam | Lahore Qalandars | $25,000 |
| Mohammad Imran Randhawa | Lahore Qalandars | $25,000 |
| Akif Javed | Lahore Qalandars | $25,000 |
| Tom Kohler-Cadmore | Peshawar Zalmi | $25,000 |
| Salman Irshad | Peshawar Zalmi | $25,000 |
| Arshad Iqbal | Peshawar Zalmi | $25,000 |
| Sameen Gul | Peshawar Zalmi | $25,000 |
| Kamran Akmal | Peshawar Zalmi | $25,000 |
Salary of Emerging Players
Emerging is the last and least expensive category of the 2023 PSL. Every player in this category gets $7,500 USD (PKR 13.2 lac). This category is created to bring the rising talent of Pakistan to international platforms and to give them more opportunities. According to the PSL 2023 draft rule, each franchise must pick at least two players from this category. Sixteen players have been selected in this category.
Here are the Emerging Players of PSL 2023 and their salaries:
| Player Name | Team | Salary (USD) |
| Faisal Akram | Karachi Kings | $7,500 |
| Qasim Akram | Karachi Kings | $7,500 |
| Mohammad Taha Khan | Karachi Kings | $7,500 |
| Mubasir Khan | Islamabad United | $7,500 |
| Zeeshan Zameer | Islamabad United | $7,500 |
| Mohammad Huraira | Islamabad United | $7,500 |
| Zaman Khan | Lahore Qalandars | $7,500 |
| Maaz Khan | Lahore Qalandars | $7,500 |
| Muhammad Ashar Qureshi | Quetta Gladiators | $7,500 |
| Abdul Wahid Bangalzai | Quetta Gladiators | $7,500 |
| Ghulam Mudassar | Quetta Gladiators | $7,500 |
| Sirajuddin | Peshawar Zalmi | $7,500 |
| Muhammad Amir Khan | Peshawar Zalmi | $7,500 |
| Mohammad Umer | Peshawar Zalmi | $7,500 |
| Abbas Afridi | Multan Sultan | $7,500 |
| Amir Azmat | Multan Sultan | $7,500 |
Conclusion:
In February and March, Pakistan sponsors the annual Twenty20 tournament known as the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The PSL, like the IPL, features foreign players in franchise-based teams. Each player who belongs to a particular category is highly regarded and paid differently.
