Pakistan's tearway pacer Ihsanullah who made a name for himself in Pakistan Super League (PSL) 8 representing Mohammad Rizwan-led Multan Sultans has taken the decision to boycott the league and retire from franchise cricket. The announcement came after he did not find any takes in the PSL 10 draft pick on January 13. Following the setback, Ihsanullah vowed to represent Pakistan again by proving his mettle in the domestic cricket.
“I just don’t want to play franchise cricket anymore. It’s over after today. I completely boycott it and retire from the PSL. I won’t be seen in the PSL again. I want to represent Pakistan by performing in domestic cricket, not by playing in the PSL,” he announced.
Ihsanullah who suffered an elbow injury in 2023 said that the owner of Multan Sultans, Ali Tareen did not contact him. He said that he will show the franchise owner that he can achieve the breakneck speeds again.
"No one has contacted me; you know this world is selfish. When someone else finds another person, they go with them. He [Ali Tareen] used to support my performance and talent," he added.
“If you perform, these franchises will come after you. My goal is to make them chase after me, and I need to perform like that. I’ll bowl at a pace of 150-160, and those who have said I’m a 130-135 bowler, in one and a half months, I’ll show them that I wasn’t the same bowler who played in PSL 8 and got injured. I’ll look much better than that."
Multan Sultans owner reacts
Tareen responded to Ishanullah's comments and said that the reason behind franchise showing no interest in him is because of the drop in his pace which they noted in domestic cricket. He also said that the top surgeon top them that his arm will never ben straight again after the initial surgery which went wrong.
“It is a very sad development, but we got Ihsanullah consulted with a top surgeon, who gave us some really bad news, saying that ‘guys, I can do the surgery, but no matter what I do, there is so much scarring from his previously botched surgery that his arm will never become perfectly straight, and he will never be able to bowl in the same way because he does not have a straight arm.’ So, it is so unfortunate that one person ruined a player’s career to hide his mistake,” said Ali.
“That’s why even now, he was bowling in domestic cricket at 130-135, which is a high pace, but he was our 155 [km/h] bowler,” he added.
Ihsanullah's PSL and T20I statistics
In PSL 2023, Ihsanullah claimed 22 wickets from 12 games at an average of 15.77 including a fifer. He made his T20I debut in 2023 and took six wickets from four games. He played an ODI before the elbow injury.