Shan Masood, the Test captain of Pakistan’s cricket team, has shared his thoughts on Babar Azam resuming leadership in white-ball cricket.
The Pakistan Cricket Board’s decision saw Azam taking over the reins for the limited-overs formats, succeeding Shaheen Afridi in T20Is.
Azam had previously stepped down from captaincy across all formats after Pakistan’s disappointing performance in the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. Following which, Afridi led the T20I squad while Masood assumed the Test captaincy.
Masood expressed understanding towards the decision, attributing it to a new management setup and selection committee with their strategic vision. He suggested that the decision might involve managing Shaheen Afridi’s workload, emphasizing the importance of avoiding player burnout.
“There’s a new set-up that’s come in, a new selection committee, and you always have a plan. And they saw a certain plan and we saw through the explanation that they probably want Shaheen Afridi to be rested as well, his workload to be managed. Because we lost Naseem Shah last year just before the World Cup which proved to be very costly to Pakistan. Changes happen, changes happened during the winter,” Masood said.
Despite the changes in leadership, Masood reiterated the team’s unity and commitment to the common goal of Pakistan’s success.
“I think for us as players we’ve got a common goal of making sure the Pakistan team does well. Whoever is leading it, everyone is behind them and ready to put in a good shift for them,” he added.
Meanwhile, former cricketer Rashid Latif believes Babar has taken revenge against Shaheen by accepting captaincy in the white-ball format.
“Shadab Khan made a smart statement when he lost the series against Afghanistan. He stood up and said, ‘Without Babar and Rizwan, this team isn’t complete.’ That means I’m not the captain. The same I was expecting from Shaheen when Babar was removed. If Shaheen had taken that step that day, he wouldn’t be seeing all this today. No matter how much friendship there is, Babar has taken revenge [against Shaheen],” Latif said.
“Shaheen was treated unfairly and so was Babar,” he added.
