Topley withdraws from the Pakistan Super League due to injury

Olly Stone is reportedly being considered as a replacement for the Multan Sultans.

Multan Sultans have suffered a double setback with injuries to fast bowlers Reece Topley and Ihsanullah ruling them out of the upcoming edition of the Pakistan Super League. While Ihsanullah's unavailability was expected due to a long-standing elbow injury, Topley's absence was announced on Sunday by Sultans owner Ali Tareen.

Tareen tweeted that Topley is out of the PSL as he has not received his NOC (no-objection certificate) from England.

Although Topley has not previously played in the PSL, he has had a full T20 workload during the winter, featuring in 12 games in the SA20 with Durban Super Giants, where he finished ninth on the tournament wickets chart. In addition, he is also expected to play in the IPL with the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

ESPNcricinfo understands that Topley's injury is not serious enough to affect his participation in the IPL. The decision to withdraw him from the PSL was made out of an abundance of caution, with the T20 World Cup in the USA and the Caribbean in June in mind.

The Sultans attempted to replace Topley with South African fast bowler Nandre Burger, who had a stellar season in the SA20, but Cricket South Africa denied the NOC. It is believed that Olly Stone, who recently played in the SA20 and ILT20, is being considered. Sri Lankan seamer Dushmantha Chameera is also being considered. However, Chameera suffered an injury to his left quadriceps on Sunday and is set to miss the remainder of the white-ball series against Afghanistan. It remains to be seen how badly injured he is.

Sunday 17 February sees the start of the PSL. Sultan reached finals in the last two seasons only to lose to Lahore Qalandars.