Afghanistan pulled Noor Ahmad’s NOC, and St Lucia Kings have lost him for the rest of the CPL

St Lucia Kings will finish CPL 2026 without the bowler who won them the title two years ago. Noor Ahmad, the Afghanistan left-arm wristspinner, has been ruled out of the tournament after the Afghanistan Cricket Board revoked his no-objection certificate, and the franchise says he will not be joining the squad at all. Tim Seifert, the New Zealand wicketkeeper-batter, has been signed in his place and is already travelling to the Caribbean.

The Kings put out a short statement confirming that Noor “will no longer be available to represent the Saint Lucia Kings for the remainder of the tournament”, and gave no reason for the board’s decision. Noor had not travelled to the West Indies at any stage of the season, so the Kings have been holding an overseas slot for a player who was never in the building.

Paperwork has cost him a Kings season before

This is the second time something off the field has wiped out a Noor season in St Lucia. He first signed for the franchise in 2020, when they were still the St Lucia Zouks, and never got on the field because of visa problems. He came back for CPL 2024, took 22 wickets in 12 matches at an economy rate of 6.19, finished as the leading wicket-taker in the competition and was named man of the series as the Kings won their first title.

That is the specific thing the Kings have lost. An economy rate of 6.19 across a full T20 season is the kind of number that wins a league, and it came from the overs between the powerplay and the death, where slow bowling in the Caribbean tends to decide games. Replacing a wristspinner with a wicketkeeper-batter changes the shape of the side rather than restoring it.

An IPL audience knows his middle overs well

Noor is not a peripheral overseas name to Indian viewers. He has been Chennai Super Kings’ frontline spinner, and in IPL 2025 he was their leading wicket-taker with 24 wickets in 14 innings at an average of 17. Afghanistan’s leading players are wanted by every franchise league on the calendar, and every one of those contracts depends on a board clearance that can be taken away after it has been given.

Seifert arrives with Lord’s still fresh

The Kings have at least replaced Noor with a player in form. Seifert made 394 runs in ten innings at a strike rate of 168.37 in this year’s men’s Hundred, and won player of the match in the final for a 38-ball 72 with seven sixes that took Manchester Super Giants past Trent Rockets and to their first title.

He knows the dressing room, too. Seifert played for Trinbago Knight Riders between 2020 and 2022 and has spent the last two seasons with the Kings. In 2025 he made 396 runs in ten innings at a strike rate of 169.23, including an unbeaten 125 from 53 balls against Antigua and Barbuda Falcons, though the Kings missed the final that year.

Fourth, and two wins from five

The timing is unhelpful. The Kings have won two of their first five matches and sit fourth, and they were beaten again in Gros Islet, where their 151 for 7 was chased down by Guyana Amazon Warriors with 11 balls to spare. Seifert has been brought in to fix a top order that could not post a defendable score. Nobody has been brought in to bowl the middle overs.

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