PSL 2026: ‘Shaheen is innocent,’ Sikandar Raza takes blame for hotel security breach

Lahore Qalandars’ all-rounder Sikandar Raza has taken full responsibility for the PSL 2026 hotel security breach, for which he and his team captain, Shaheen Shah Afridi, made headlines earlier. While Raza admitted to letting intruders enter his hotel room, later revealing them to be friends and family members, he urged the relevant authorities to spare Shaheen, who had just helped them reach Raza’s doorstep.

A letter from the Punjab police to the PSL chief executive, Salman Naseer, accusing the pair of ‘forcefully escorting’ unauthorised visitors up to Raza’s hotel room on Saturday night, went viral, with the Zimbabwean veteran admitting them to be close friends he had known for close to two decades, adding that Afridi was merely helping facilitate that.

"Shaheen didn't force anyone," Raza said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

"My friends and family had come, and at my request, Shaheen helped them [come up to my room]. If these were the SOPs [that visitors weren't allowed into our rooms], I wasn't aware, and to some extent, Shaheen wasn't aware either. The culprit here is me, not Shaheen. He went down on my request, because it was my close family and friends; I didn't want to meet them in the business centre. We sat upstairs for 40 minutes,” Raza explained.

On Sunday, the police’s letter was leaked on social media, which accused the PSL franchise and the two star cricketers of violating security protocols. The letter alleged that despite refusing permission to allow visitors in Raza’s room by the PCB’s security, anti-corruption manager and as well as Nasser, Raza and Afridi took ‘unauthorised people’ up to his room. Although Raza claims that his ‘family and friends’ stayed for around 40 minutes, the letter claims a stark difference, claiming they spent nearly three hours there.

"We [the visitors and he] have been friends for 19 years. My wife and kids will also come to see me. Please don't forget that my family and relatives live here [and] I don't get to see [them] all year. Shaheen merely went down on my request. We requested a few members of the PCB, and what happened after that, we'll look into it. But it was my call, not Shaheen's, and I know he didn't forcefully escort anyone because I was in the lift with him, too,” Raza added.