“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.

“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.

Ihshanullah’s injury bad luck

Ihsanullah’s comments were in response to Ali Taren’s statement in which the Multan Sultans owner claimed that the pacer would not be able to touch high speeds of 150 after the elbow injury he suffered in 2023 during a series against New Zealand.

“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.

After picking up 22 wickets at an impressive economy rate of 7.59 for Multan Sultans in PSL 8, Ihshanullah was immediately drafted into Pakistan’s T20I squad. He made his debut against Afghanistan in March 2023 before playing another T20I against New Zealand. He also made his ODI debut in the same series, but his stint was cut short due to an elbow injury.

His recovery was not smooth by any means and, in fact, became the biggest reason for Pakistan’s chief medical office to resign after an independent report exposed the botched-up dealings of his injury.

Ihshanullah made a comeback to competitive cricket during the Champions T20 Cup, where he took two wickets in four matches.