‘Ihsanullah will never be able to bowl fast again'

Ali Khan Tareen, the owner of Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Multan Sultans, made a shocking claim about Pakistan pacer Ihsanullah, saying that he will never be able to bowl too fast again.

With an incredible PSL 2023 season in which he ended as the second-highest wicket-taker with 22 for Multan Sultans, Ihsanullah catapulted to fame. His ability to consistently reach 150 kmp/h on the speed gun was the most impressive feature of his breakthrough performance.

After that, he was quickly promoted to the Pakistani team, making T20I debut against Afghanistan in March 2023 but an elbow injury sustained during his April 2023 ODI debut against New Zealand ended his rise.

Ihsanullah made a comeback in competitive cricket in December 2024, representing Dolphins in the Champions T20 cup but failed to impress with the ball. The right-arm pacer could only take two wickets in four many matches with an average and economy of 62.5 and 11.19 respectively.

He remained wicketless in three out four games he played for Dolphins. Recently in an interview, Ali Khan Tareen blamed the ‘botched’ surgery that led Ihsanullah dropping his pace.

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“It is a very sad development but we got Ihsanullah consulted with a top surgeon, who gave us a really bad news, saying that guys, I can do the surgery but no matter what I do, there is so much scaring 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”, the Multan Sultans owner said.

Ali Khan Tareen added that 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 at 130-135, which is a high pace but he was our 155 [kmph] bowler,” Ali Khan Tareen added.

Ihsanullah has represented Pakistan in one ODI and four T20Is in his brief international career so far.