Pakistan pacer boycotts and retires from PSL at the age of 22

Pakistan pacer boycotts and retires from PSL at the age of 22

"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."

Pakistan’s fast bowler Ihsanullah has retired from the Pakistan Super League (PSL) at the age of 22 after getting unpicked in the PSL 2025 draft. The right-arm paceman set the PSL 2023 on fire by picking up 22 wickets in 12 games @ 15.8 and an economy rate of 7.6.

Ihsanullah finished PSL 2023 as the second-highest wicket-taker and soon went on to make his T20I and ODI debut for Pakistan. Playing for Multan Sultans, Ihsanullah constantly hit the 150-kmph mark and troubled a lot of quality batters in the PSL 2023. The right-armer, however, had to miss the 2024 season due to an elbow injury, and hasn’t been able to hit the same pace since his comeback.

Talking to Public News after the PSL 2025 draft, Ihsanullah said: “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.

“No one has contacted me; you know this world is selfish. When someone else finds another person, they go with them. He (Ali Tareen - owner of Multan Sultans) used to support my performance and talent.

“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.”

Tareen had earlier said: “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. That’s why even now, he was bowling in domestic cricket at 130-135, which is a high pace, but he was our 155 bowler.”

Ihsanullah didn’t play any competitive cricket for almost 20 months before making his return during the Champions T20 Cup in December. He featured in four games and could only pick up two wickets at an economy rate of 11.19.

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