Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi says the board “will take action against those players according to the rules” after two overseas signings pulled out of the Pakistan Super League to accept late IPL deals.
First the facts. Fast bowler Blessing Muzarabani walked away from Multan Sultans once Kolkata Knight Riders came calling. A few days later Sri Lanka’s Dasun Shanaka did the same, leaving Lahore Qalandars short and stepping in for the injured Sam Curran at Rajasthan Royals. Australia’s Daniel Sams has been drafted in as Shanaka’s replacement.
Speaking in Lahore on Sunday, Naqvi reminded everyone of last year’s precedent when South African all-rounder Corbin Bosch was banned for twelve months after a similar switch. “There was a case last year too… and the same thing will happen this time,” he warned.
Naqvi also played down worries about the calendar clash. “Clashing with the IPL is not an issue because if players are going there, we’re getting excellent players coming here as well. We could not afford to postpone the PSL because we have no other window all year.”
The timing is awkward. The PSL starts on 26 March, two days before the IPL. Owing to the region’s ongoing oil-supply crunch, the Pakistani competition will be staged behind closed doors at just two venues, Lahore and Karachi, instead of the usual six.
A handful of other withdrawals—Gudakesh Motie, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Ottneil Baartman and Spencer Johnson among them—have been put down to “personal reasons”, though franchises quietly admit overlapping contracts rarely help.
From the players’ side, the lure of the world’s richest T20 league is obvious: bigger cheques, wider exposure, and—rightly or wrongly—the sense that one good IPL showing can turbo-charge an international career. The PCB argument is equally clear: franchises invest money and fan interest early; walking away days before the first ball feels like breaking an unwritten pact. Expect lawyers, and maybe suspensions, to decide where that balance should sit.
