Will Mohammad Hasnain Make a Comeback for Pakistan? He bowls at 155 km/h. He took a T20I hat trick at 19. He was Pakistan’s most exciting fast bowling prospect in a generation.
So why is he barely playing?
The answer is not one thing. It’s a collision of bad timing, a bowling ban, surgery, and a pace hierarchy that leaves him no margin for error. And understanding it tells you something uncomfortable about how international cricket really works.
Is Mohammed Hasnain Still Playing Cricket?
Here’s what surprises most people: yes, he is still playing just not where his talent says he should be.
Hasnain featured in PSL 2025 with Multan Sultans and, in January 2025, joined Sydney Thunder in the Big Bash League. He is active. He is fit. He is motivated.
However, his Pakistan appearances remain frustratingly rare and his last outing said everything.
12 February 2025, Karachi. South Africa. He replaced the injured Haris Rauf his one shot. He went for 72 runs in 8 overs. No wickets. Three days later, selectors dropped him for the final.
One match. One chance. Gone.
That single moment captures six years of Mohammad Hasnain’s international career in one painful frame.
Why Is Muhammad Hasnain Not Playing?
Most people assume it is the injuries. Or the ban. But the real reason is more structural and more unfair than either of those.
1. The queue in front of him has no gaps. Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf Pakistan’s frontline pace trio ranks among the best in world cricket. When all three stay fit, selectors simply do not consider Hasnain at all. He enters the conversation only when someone breaks down under pressure, without match rhythm, with one chance to prove six years of potential. That is an almost impossible ask of any bowler.
2. He leaks runs when it matters most. Raw pace at 150+ km/h is a gift. However, when batters target him at the death, his line and length break down. In T20 and ODI cricket, that costs you your place in the XI no matter how fast you bowl.
3. He has never had a sustained run. Since his debut in 2019, Hasnain has played just 43 international matches across six years. His busiest single season produced only 10 appearances fewer than any Pakistani pacer of his generation. As a result, consistency as a bowler simply cannot develop without consistent opportunity.
Three problems. Each one hard enough alone yet together, they have quietly held back one of Pakistan’s most gifted fast bowlers.
What Injuries and Bans Has Mohammad Hasnain Faced?
This is where the story gets remarkable because what Hasnain has overcome would have ended most careers.
2022: The illegal bowling action ban. During a Big Bash League stint with Sydney Thunder, officials reported his action. Tests showed his elbow flexed 17–24 degrees during delivery above the 15-degree ICC limit. As a result, the ICC suspended him from international cricket at just 21 years old.
Most bowlers never recover from that psychologically. Yet Hasnain spent months rebuilding his action from scratch. By June 2022, his elbow extension was back within legal limits and by August, he was in Pakistan’s Asia Cup squad. Coming back from a bowling ban takes character most athletes simply do not have.
2023: Ankle surgery. Just as that momentum was building, a serious ankle injury during the Lanka Premier League sent him to England for an MRI. Doctors confirmed surgery was necessary. Rehabilitation began on 13 September 2023. The rest of that year gone.
Two major setbacks in two consecutive years. Each time he built momentum, something took it away.
What makes it harder is the timing. These injuries did not hit in the middle of a settled international career. Instead, they struck precisely when he needed consistent matches to establish himself and the disruption did not just cost him games. It cost him his window.
Will Mohammad Hasnain Make a Comeback for Pakistan?
He believes so. And at just 25, the window is still open.
His PSL 2025 goal with Multan Sultans is clear: bowl fast, take wickets, and make selectors uncomfortable ignoring him. He knows the PSL is where his story started dominant performances in PSL 2019 are what first put him on Pakistan’s radar.
The tools are still there. Pace above 150 km/h. A remodelled and cleared bowling action. A healed ankle. And a hunger that six years of frustration tends to create.
However, the uncomfortable truth remains: the path back is narrow and depends on factors outside his control. He needs an injury in front of him, an immediate performance, and zero margin for error. That is the reality of sitting fourth in a queue of three.
Even so, one PSL performance can change everything. It happened once. It can happen again.
The talent was never the question. It still isn’t.
