Pakistan’s premier pacer Shaheen Afridi was caught up in a controversial situation during the ongoing Lanka Premier League (LPL 2026), as he reportedly complained to the Anti-Corruption Unit of the league.
This was after Shaheen was left out of a match by his team, the Kandy Royals, who had earlier informed him that he would be used as an impact player for the game against Colombo Capitals. This impact player rule is similar to the one used in the Indian Premier League, which the Sri Lankan league adopted from 2026.
According to journalist Saleem Khaliq and Pakistan’s Tribune, the coach apologized to Afridi after the game and said that an analyst's mistake had left his name off the list of impact players. The fast bowler was furious about the situation and decided to go back to Pakistan after telling an officer from the Anti-Corruption Unit.
The team management and league organizers apologized and persuaded him to stay in Sri Lanka once the issue was brought to the match referee's attention. The LPL then claimed that the incident was brought on by the match referee receiving the wrong team sheet.
Afridi took 1/41 in Kandy Royals’ opening match, followed by 2/34 and 1/32 in his next two appearances.
The scandal coincides with the tournament's broader unrest. Manjot Kalra, a former India under-19 cricket player and owner of Jaffna Kings, was detained by Sri Lanka's Special Investigation Unit before the start of the LPL on suspicion of match-fixing.
The team's ownership rights were then terminated, leaving the organisers and Sri Lanka Cricket to handle the problem.
Investigators claimed that Kalra approached Jaffna Kings players Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dunith Wellalage, and Avishka Fernando with an offer of more than USD 30,000 to sway game results, according to local media sources.
After the players apparently told Sri Lanka's Special Investigations Unit, they were told to negotiate a settlement. After the latter allegedly showed up at a prearranged place with an advance payment, Kalra and another guy were taken into custody.
