'We will take action' - PCB Chair Mohsin Naqvi warns players opting out of PSL to play IPL

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairperson Mohsin Naqvi has promised to take strict action against overseas players that have pulled out of the 2026 Pakistan Super League (PSL) to join the Indian Premier League (IPL) as injury replacements.

There is a common theme where overseas players are formed as part of the Registered Available Player Pool (RAPP) ahead of an IPL auction. However, when they go unsold, they are picked up by PSL franchises. But when an IPL team needs to find a replacement for their injured stars, they can only pick players from the RAPP list.

This has already led to Blessing Muzarabani skipping the Pakistani league and joining Kolkata Knight Riders as a replacement for Mustafizur Rahman, while recent reports link Lahore Qalandars’ Dasun Shanaka as a replacement for the injured Sam Curran at the Rajasthan Royals for a stint in the mega Indian T20 tournament. 

Naqvi was clearly left unimpressed by players skipping PSL to join their rival league. The PCB chairman, however, does not believe in changing the tournament’s dates in the future to avoid clashing with the IPL due to a lack of window in the international cricket calendar.

"We will take action against those players according to the rules. There was a case last year too [Corbin Bosch, who was banned from the PSL for one year], and the same thing will happen this time. 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,” Naqvi was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. 

The instance of a player pulling out of the PSL to play in the IPL happened last year when Corbin Bosch, who was a diamond pick for the Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL draft, jumped ship to represent the Mumbai Indians. 

It is also worth mentioning that there are already other overseas players who have pulled out of the 2026 PSL season, citing personal reasons. These include Jake Fraser-McGurk and Spencer Johnson from Australia, West Indies' Gudakesh Motie and South African pacer Ottneil Baartman. Johnson has been touted as a potential replacement for the injured Nathan Ellis at CSK in the upcoming season. 

PSL kickstarts on Thursday, March 26, two days before the commencement of the IPL. The tournament, however, is set to be played behind closed doors and only in Lahore and Karachi due to the ongoing oil crisis caused by the Gulf War.