England all-rounder Moeen Ali has turned down a deal with Pakistan Super League outfit Quetta Gladiators due to a clash with his family’s pilgrimage to Mecca.
Moeen, currently in India with England, was signed up by Quetta as a supplemental draft replacement for Carlos Brathwaite before being informed of the calendar clash.
It is believed the England all-rounder held further discussions with the Gladiators before swiftly informing them of his preference to complete the pilgrimage to Islam’s holiest city.
A devout Muslim, Moeen shared prayers with team-mate Adil Rashid and the Pakistan opposition when the two sides met in the UAE during the winter of 2015 and last summer in England.
The Gladiators tweeted their support for Moeen and how they respected his decision following the news, to which Moeen responded saying he hoped to make the move in the future.
@TeamQuetta @thePSLt20 Thanks guys. Inshallah in the future sometime. Would have loved to have taken part. All the best in the competition.
— Moeen Ali (@MoeenAli) January 24, 2017
Hodge, 42, played for Peshawar Zalmi in the tournament’s first edition.
Elsewhere in the draft, held Monday night in Lahore for teams to pick replacements for players whose availability had changed, Lahore Qalandars brought in James Franklin, Jason Roy and Chris Green in place of Anton Devcich (injured), Shaun Tait (injured) and Dwayne Bravo (injured).
There was change for Peshawar Zalmi also; Tillakaratne Dilshan, Marlon Samuels and Andre Fletcher brought in to replace Shakib Al Hasan (unavailable), Alex Hales (injured) and Mohammad Shahzad (unavailable).
In other Gladiators movements, Nathan McCullum, Thisara Perera and Rilee Rossouw were brought in, David Willey, Rovman Powell and Mohammad Nabi (unavailable) making way.
