Pakistan seamer Ihsanullah: “First-class cricket, you know everything you can learn is through that format. You cannot bowl everywhere, you have to find that right length and get the batsmen out from that particular length”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Ihsanullah, the Pakistan pace ace, said he learned how to become a better bowler by playing first-class cricket.
The 20-year-old has featured in seven first-class matches to date and said he quickly understood that he couldn’t bowl filth and had to maintain a good line and length consistently.
Understanding and doing this over and over again eventually rewarded him with wickets.
Ihsanullah has taken 22 wickets in his seven first-class games at an average of 28.22.
However, it was during the 2023 Pakistan Super League (PSL) where he really got noticed as he finished as the second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 22 wickets in 12 matches for the Multan Sultans at an average of 15.77 and an economy rate of 7.59.
“First-class cricket, you know everything you can learn is through that format. You cannot bowl everywhere, you have to find that right length and get the batsmen out from that particular length. The areas that I bowled in first-class cricket, that helped me a lot in [the] One Day Cup as well as [the] PSL,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Following PSL 8, the Matta native made his international debut and featured in Pakistan’s limited overs series against Afghanistan and New Zealand.
However, he hasn’t been selected for Pakistan’s upcoming tour of Sri Lanka, which will consist of two Test matches that will be played in Galle and Colombo from July 16 to 28.
Pakistan Squad for Sri Lanka Test Series:Â Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vc & wk), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Muhammad Huraira, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood