Pace sensation Ihsanullah announced his retirement from the Pakistan Super League (PSL) following his snub in the PSL 10 draft, opting to boycott the competition altogether.
In a candid interview, Ihsanullah voiced his anger and disappointment at being overlooked, vowing not to participate in the league again.
The right-arm pacer expressed his frustration, revealing that no franchise had reached out to him despite his remarkable performances in the past.
“Not a single franchise contacted me,” he said during the interview.
“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,” he added.
Ihsanullah's comments come in the wake of a statement made by Multan Sultans owner Ali Tareen, who stated that Ihsanullah will never be able to bowl the same way despite undergoing surgery on his right elbow.
“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.
His frustration did not end there. Ihsanullah made it clear that his decision to retire from the PSL was not one made out of emotion but rather out of a realization of the selfish nature of the cricketing world.
"I've seen it myself—it's a selfish world with selfish people," he explained.
“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.
When asked about his relationship with the owner of Multan Sultans, Ali Tareen, Ihsanullah revealed that he had never been contacted by the franchise, further fueling his feelings of neglect.
"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.
It is pertinent to mention that Ihsanullah was an exceptional performer with the ball in the eighth edition of the PSL, where he played 12 matches and picked up 22 wickets at an average of 15.77 and an economy rate of 7.59.
The 22-year-old pacer has been sidelined for some time due to an elbow injury sustained during the home ODI series against New Zealand in April 2023.
However, he recently made a return to competitive cricket during the Champions T20 Cup, where he took two wickets in four matches.
He has played one ODI and four T20Is for Pakistan, picking up six wickets in the 20-over format.
