Kevin Pietersen, Tymal Mills and Luke Wright withdraw from PSL final in Lahore

Quetta Gladiators will be without their foreign player contingent for the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final in Lahore.

The franchise reached the final of the Twenty20 competition after scraping past Peshawar Zalmi by one run in the first playoff on 28 February. However, players such as Kevin Pietersen, Tymal Mills and Luke Wright all took to Twitter to state that they have opted out of playing in Pakistan.

There had been concerns over foreign players potentially playing a final in Pakistan, with PSL chairman Najam Sethi even considering having Dubai – which has played host to the T20 tournament so far – as the venue for the final following a recent blast in Lahore.

Pakistan has not hosted an international series since 2009 following the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus.

The green light was given for the Gaddafi Cricket Stadium in Lahore to host the final with Sethi hoping that it would send a message to the terrorists and bring back international cricket to Pakistan.

However, despite claims that there would be fool-proof security arrangements and closed roads, the Gladiators' foreign players have withdrawn from the tournament. Pietersen, who scored 40 from 22 balls against Zalmi, tweeted that he will be back in England.

England all-rounder Wright expressed regret that he will not be playing in the final.

"It's with a heavy heart I will not be coming to Lahore. I have a young family and for me a game of cricket is just not worth the risk. I'm sorry as I know how much it means to you all and hopefully in the future the safety will not be in doubt to come play there."

T20 specialist Mills, who recently joined Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 120m (£1.43m, $1.79m), said he will not be travelling but will be watching from home.

New Zealand's Nathan McCullum will also not be travelling while South Africa's Rilee Rossouw is still considering playing in the final. In the event that franchises have a shortage in players, they will be able to nominate five to six foreign players who are willing to play in Pakistan.