The Pakistan pace spearhead has received NOC to play for Kandy Royals in LPL as Shaheen Shah Afridi has extended the open invitation to him.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has released the No Objection Certificate (NOC) for Shaheen Shah Afridi for him to play for Kandy Royals in the upcoming 2026 LPL tournament that kicks off this week.
This would be Afridi’s first game in the Lanka Premier League and his second overseas T20 league in the past year after playing the Big Bash League with Brisbane Heat.
Afridi has recently been cut out of Pakistan’s Test team for the upcoming series against West Indies and England. He has played a limited number of red-ball games in recent years which has sparked rumours that he is turning his attention towards white-ball cricket. He was, however, a part of the current white-ball camp at the National Cricket Academy.
Last year, Afridi was given the ODI captaincy role, and he took the team to a 2-1 series win against Australia at home. He also shared the top wicket-taking honours of the series with seven wickets at a very impressive average of 12.14.
Though Afridi failed to impress in BBL, with just two wickets in four games, he is still one of the most desired T20 bowlers in the world. He has claimed 362 T20 wickets, averaging 20.99 to a cost of 7.97 runs an over. He has taken 136 wickets as a Pakistan bowler in the shortest format with the record of 136 wickets in T20Is.
The LPL 2026 will be held on the dates of July 17 – August 8. Kandy Royals will play their first game against Dambulla Sixers on July 18.
