PSL 2026: Gudakesh Motie pulls out of tournament, Lahore Qalandars to sign Sri Lanka star as replacement

Defending champions Lahore Qalandars are poised to replace West Indies spinner Gudakesh Motie with Sri Lanka’s Dunith Wellalage ahead of the 2026 Pakistan Super League (PSL). 

Motie decided to pull out of the tournament days after the West Indies squad faced travel issues due to the ongoing military conflict in the Middle East. The Caribbean outfit was left stranded in Kolkata from March 1 and were only able to fly back home on commercial flights a couple of days earlier. 

According to reports, Lahore Qalandars are set to make a like-for-like replacement in the form of Wellalage. The Sri Lanka spinner comes into PSL 2026 on the back of some decent performances at the recently-concluded T20 World Cup. The left-arm spinner took eight wickets from seven games at an economy rate of just 7.22. He is also becoming a handy lower order batter, capable of sticking around with the tail and hitting some big shots.

Should he join the Lahore Qalandars, Wellalage would become the second Sri Lankan player in the champions’ squad alongside his T20I captain Dasun Shanaka. 

It is worth mentioning that Motie is the only player from the West Indies’ T20 World Cup squad to have been picked for PSL 2026 before pulling out of the tournament. South Africa, who suffered the same travel issues after the tournament in India, do not have any of their players playing in Pakistan.

The Proteas are instead traveling to New Zealand to take part in a five-match T20I series commencing from March 15. Their squad, however, features only three members from the T20 World Cup squad - Keshav Maharaj, George Linde and Jason Smith. Maharaj is set to captain the team against the Black Caps.

Lahore Qalandars will kickstart their campaign on March 26 against newly-formed Hyderabad Kingsmen at the Gaddafi Stadium. They are currently on a dominating spree in the PSL, having won three out of the last four titles.