Why a West Indian star pulled out of the Pakistan Super League (PSL)? India travel delay the reason?

The good news is Lahore Qalandars have lined up a good replacement and it's a Sri Lankan.

Published on: Mar 13, 2026, 18:09:32 IST

Written by Prateek Srivastava

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Just like the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Pakistan Super League (PSL) is starting later this month. In what won't be palatable to PSL fans for sure, ace West Indies left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie won't be featuring in the upcoming season for Lahore Qalandars, if reports are to be believed.

The West Indies team was stuck in India for more than a week! (HT_PRINT)

However, there is no explanation as to why Motie has opted out of the league. He was stuck in India until a few days back, in Kolkata, to be precise. The West Indies lost to India in what was a virtual quarterfinal on March 1, but the Iran-Israel war stood in their way of flying back to their home country the day after. The airspace operations over a large part of the world have been affected, and that was the reason why the Caribbean team was forced to stay put in India for a week before flying out finally.

Also Read: Why two-time World Cup-winner thinks players like Abhishek Sharma ‘are rascals and they walk into the fire’

One wonders if the travel uncertainty the world over was the reason why Motie opted to pull out. Well, if he had that in mind, he can't be blamed. Nobody would want to be stuck in an unfamiliar place, away from their family and friends, for days or even weeks. Who knows?! The way wars go, one can't be too certain.

Good replacement already on the cards!

Now that Motie is out of the picture, the PSL franchise is likely to go for Sri Lanka spinner Dunith Wellalage, who took seven wickets in the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup. In a match against England in the Super 8s, the Sri Lankan spinner had turned in brilliant figures of 3/26, but unfortunately, his team had failed to chase down a modest 147, spoiling all this good work.

Motie, on the other hand, featured in all seven games for his team and took 10 wickets in all with a wee under 8 economy rate. He took 3/33 in the Caribbean team's stunning win against England in a group match. However, his best figures (4/28) came against Zimbabwe in the Super 8s as the archipelago nation comfortably won the match.

If the Wellalage signing is confirmed, he will join his Sri Lanka T20 captain Dasun Shanaka at the Lahore franchise. It may be noted the franchise has won three editions in the last four years.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Prateek Srivastava
Prateek Srivastava is a senior sports journalist having been in the profession for two decades now. He started his print career with the India Today Group and later also worked for the Asian Age. In 2009, sensing the wind of change, he switched to the digital media and joined Mobile ESPN. There, he covered the 2011 Cricket World Cup and 2010 Hockey World Cup as a venue reporter. He did plenty of voice-over work too, over there. After leaving Mobile ESPN, Prateek went on to work for Cricketnext, Gocricket and Cricbuzz. At Gocricket (Times Internet Limited), he covered the 2014 T20 World from Bangladesh. There he also received a team leadership award, given at the end of the month. Prateek has also covered the 2016 T20 World Cup in India, this time working for Sportz Interactive. He also worked for Chinese giants Alibaba over two years and led their ""Short News"" content team at UC Browser. While cricket is Prateek’s expertise, he has also done a lot of golf. In fact, he has covered India’s first two European Tour events back in the late noughties. He has also done extensive writing on football having been associated with the Indian Super League for three seasons. Finally, Prateek is a literature aficionado and swears by Philip Roth and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and when he doesn’t joke, he is usually quiet and at work.Read More

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