PSL 2026 Retentions: Babar, Shaheen Stay; Mohammad Rizwan Released

Before the first player auction, Pakistan's top players, including Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, and Abrar Ahmed, were retained by their respective PSL teams. Meanwhile, Mohammad Rizwan's four-year tenure with Multan Sultans came to an end as he was not retained. Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi, two of Pakistan's biggest cricket stars, have been kept in the Platinum division by their respective PSL teams. As both teams get ready for the league's eleventh season, Babar will stay with Peshawar Zalmi while Shaheen will remain with Lahore Qalandars.

Newcomers Hyderabad and Sialkot Stallionz are anticipated to finalise their signings by February 7. All six of the current teams confirmed their team retentions on Wednesday. The PSL has stated that, in contrast to the conventional draft procedure, the league will hold its first-ever player auction on February 11. The auction's terms were finalised last week, and each team is permitted to keep up to four players—one from each group.

PSL 2026 Retentions Updates:

The release of Muhammad Rizwan by the Multan Sultans after four years has garnered the most attention. With a strike rate of 132.1 from 19 innings at the end of 2025, Rizwan, who is no longer a member of the Pakistan T20I team, did not have the best performance last year. Additionally, his first BBL tenure did not proceed as expected: He struck at 102.74 while playing for the Renegades, scoring just 187 runs in ten games.

With 20 wickets at 16.75 in 11 innings, Rauf, on the other hand, finished as the greatest wicket-taker in the BBL. Since joining Lahore in 2019, Rauf has taken 83 wickets for the team, including 17 at a rate of 25.70 in 12 innings. No retentions have been named by the franchise.

Retained Players List:

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