3 min readUpdated: Mar 22, 2026 08:03 PM IST
Even as the Pakistan Cricket Board said that foreign players will start arriving in the country from Sunday for the upcoming edition of PSL, the league lost one of its international stars. Sri Lanka captain and all-rounder Dasun Shanaka, who was supposed to play for Lahore Qalandars, could now be on the roster for Indian Premier League side Rajasthan Royals as a replacement for the injured Sam Curran.
A report on news agency Press Trust of India noted that Shanaka’s paperwork to join the Royals is currently pending.
This comes on a day that the PCB announced that the PSL will be played behind closed doors with no fans in attendance and will be restricted to only two venues due to the global fuel crisis sparked by the USA and Israel’s war against Iran.
Shanaka’s decision to reportedly void his contract with the PSL is not likely to go down well with the PCB. Zimbabwe pacer Blessing Muzarabani had also opted out of his contract with PSL franchise Islamabad United when the opportunity arose to play for IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders as a replacement for Mustafizur Rahman.
In Shanaka’s case, he will reportedly replace Curran who was ruled out of the IPL with a groin issue. Before last year’s IPL auction, Curran had been traded to RR by the Chennai Super Kings along with Ravindra Jadeja in exchange for Sanju Samson.
The Royals think-tank knows Shanaka, who captained the Sri Lankan T20 World Cup team recently, well. Cricket legend Kumar Sangakkara is the head coach at Royals while the RR assistant coach Vikram Rathour was a consulting batting coach of Sri Lanka during the T20 World Cup.
ESPNCricinfo reported that Australia’s Daniel Sams will replace Shanaka at Qalandars.
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It was only on Sunday that PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi had spoken about taking action against players who violated their contracts with PSL teams to play in the IPL at the last minute. Similar issues arose last season as well with the PSL and IPL dates clashing. Back then, Corbin Bosch was banned from the PSL for one year.
“We will take action against those players according to the rules,” Naqvi warned on Sunday. “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.”
The PSL will start from March 26 while the IPL starts two days later on a Saturday.
