Image Credit- PCB
In a fit of rage, Ahmed Shehzad announced his
retirement from the PSL, accusing the six teams of making a “deliberate
effort” to keep him out of the league. He published a lengthy statement
claiming to know “exactly the reasons why I’m not made part of the
PSL” without providing any further explanation. He claimed he was
departing in order to maintain his dignity.
It does not mean that Shehzad is giving up cricket
entirely; in fact, he claims he has had offers of money to play in leagues all
over the world, which he should be able to accept at this point. Saying that
patriotism “goes against you” and subtly implying that other players
had accepted lucrative league contracts abroad while he chose to remain in the
domestic circuit, his statement showed frustration with Pakistani cricket.
“I have tried really hard in domestic cricket
consistently in the last few years, and did reasonably well in the National T20
Cup just before the PSL draft,” he wrote in a post on social media.
“There seems a deliberate effort to keep me out, even when franchises have
opted for other performers with inferior numbers than me,” he said.
“But when everything is pre-planned it doesn’t really matter. I don’t know
whose responsibility it is to get top domestic performers in the PSL then.”
The 32-year-old Shehzad last participated in the PSL
in 2020, mostly for the Quetta Gladiators, who he helped win the championship
in 2019 by hitting a half-century in the championship match. He did not play
again in 2020 after having a bad competition in which he scored 61 runs in
seven innings. He became the first Pakistani player to make a hundred in T20I
cricket, amassing 1077 runs with a strike rate of 120.06 in 45 PSL matches.
Shehzad finished the National T20 Cup with 344 runs at
133.33, but on December 13, the PSL draft was empty. Pakistan’s next Twenty20
match is a series against New Zealand, which takes place soon after their
Australian red-ball trip.