Pakistan batter Ahmed Shehzad has announced his retirement from the Pakistan Super League (PSL), attributing his decision to what he perceives as a “deliberate effort” by all six franchises to exclude him from the competition. In a statement, he provided a brief explanation for his absence from the PSL and hinted at considering offers from different franchises, clarifying that his retirement from the PSL does not signify his retirement from cricket altogether.
“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. There seems to be a deliberate effort to keep me out, even when franchises have opted for other performers with inferior numbers than me. 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,” Ahmed stated in his release.
The 32-year-old’s last PSL appearance was for Quetta Gladiators in 2020, where he had previously won the PSL trophy in 2019. However, his 2020 tournament was subpar, scoring just 61 runs in seven innings. Over his PSL career, Shehzad has accumulated 1077 runs in 45 matches at a strike rate of 120.06. Notably, he was the first Pakistani to score a century in T20 International cricket.