The Kabul Tribune (KT) — Afghanistan opening batter Rahmanullah Gurbaz has withdrawn from the upcoming 11th edition of the Pakistan Super League despite being directly signed by Peshawar Zalmi, he announced on social media.
Gurbaz posted a video in Pashto on Instagram on Friday,
saying he would be unavailable for the tournament due to scheduling commitments
and his focus on humanitarian projects at home. “After the World Cup, I won’t
be available for the PSL this season due to my schedule. I’ll be focusing more
on my foundation work in Afghanistan,” he wrote. “Thank you for all the love
and support.”
Peshawar Zalmi confirmed their signing of the Afghanistan
international on Feb. 5. The franchise shared a promotional graphic featuring
Gurbaz in a traditional turban against a mountainous backdrop but did not
disclose financial details of the deal.
Gurbaz, a key member of Afghanistan’s national side since
his debut in 2019, has represented the country in two Tests, 52 ODIs and 83
T20Is. He is also among the most sought-after Afghan players in global
franchise leagues, having competed in the IPL, BPL, CPL, SA20 and ILT20.
The wicketkeeper-batter has previously played three PSL
seasons — for Multan Sultans in 2021 and Islamabad United in 2022 and 2023 —
scoring 318 runs in 15 matches at an average of 22.71, including one
half-century.
Meanwhile, Peshawar Zalmi have retained several key players
ahead of the PSL 11 auction. Babar Azam leads the list in the Platinum category
with a PKR 70 million retention. Sufiyan Muqeem (Diamond, PKR 44.8 million),
Abdul Samad (Gold, PKR 28 million) and Ali Raza (Emerging, PKR 19.6 million)
were also retained. The franchise has spent PKR 162.4 million of its PKR 450
million auction budget.
PSL 11 is scheduled to begin March 26 and conclude May 3,
with the league’s first-ever historic player auction set for Feb. 11.
