Pakistan superstar Shaheen Shah Afridi revealed that he was about to quit the game after a lengthy layoff due to a knee injury.

The pacer got injured back in July during the Pakistan tour of Sri Lanka. Though he returned to the ICC T20 World Cup, without achieving 100 percent fitness, he got injured again in the final against England.

“There were times when I wanted to give up,” Shaheen told Pakistan Cricket Board. “I was working on only one muscle and it was not improving. Often during the rehabilitation sessions, I used to say to myself ‘this is enough, I cannot do this anymore’.

He went on to add that videos of his bowling had kept him motivated as he is all set to return to action during the Pakistan Super League season eight (PSL8).

“But then I used to watch my bowling on YouTube and see how well I had done and that motivated me and I told myself ‘to push a little more’ … It is frustrating for a fast bowler to miss cricket because of an injury.”

Amongst those who made their HBL PSL debuts in 2018, the Lahore Qalandars captain has the most wickets (70). He is third on the list of the highest wicket-takers in the tournament history behind Wahab Riaz (103) and Hasan Ali (81) who have played 27 and 14 more matches than him.

“I am very excited to be making my comeback here and look forward to all the challenges that it will throw at me,” he said. “Thanks to Almighty, I am doing well. I am ticking both the bowling workload and fitness requirement boxes.”

Lahore Qalandars will begin their title defence on 13 February when they take on Multan Sultans in the tournament opener in Multan.