Pakistan have misplaced all 5 Assessments below Masood’s captaincy, together with a shock dwelling collection loss towards Bangladesh.
Beneath-pressure Pakistan Check cricket captain Shan Masood will proceed to guide the facet within the upcoming collection towards England regardless of shedding his first 5 matches on the helm.
Masood, a 34-year-old top-order batter, stored his place as Pakistan named a 15-man squad on Tuesday for subsequent month’s first Check within the southeastern metropolis of Multan.
Following Pakistan’s shock 2-0 dwelling collection loss towards Bangladesh in August, native media had speculated that Masood confronted an axe forward of a busy Check calendar for the group.
Pakistan had by no means misplaced a Check match to Bangladesh earlier than and the dual defeats in Rawalpindi additionally marked solely the second time that Pakistan misplaced all matches in a collection at dwelling, the primary occasion coming in 2022 towards England, their opponents in an upcoming collection.
It took Masood’s document to 5 losses since changing Babar Azam as skipper in November. He misplaced his first collection 3-0 in Australia.
The left-handed opener’s batting type stays under par as he has failed to attain a Check century since August 2020 and has a batting common of 28.6 in his 5 matches as captain.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) caught with Masood as their Australian head coach Jason Gillespie sought consistency.
Pakistan at present languish in eighth place within the Worldwide Cricket Council’s (ICC) males’s Check group rankings with 76 score factors after 20 matches within the present cycle of the World Check Championship. Australia lead the desk with 124 factors, with India shut behind and England are third.
The primary of three Pakistan-England Assessments begins in Multan on October 7, the second shall be performed in the identical metropolis from October 15 and the third in Rawalpindi from October 24.
The PCB mentioned the group announcement was for the primary Check solely.
“The 15-man squad is for the primary Check and primarily based on the advice of head coach Gillespie, the chosen gamers will attend a coaching camp in Multan from October 1,” the board mentioned in a press launch.
Left-arm spinner Noman Ali has changed quick bowler Khurram Shahzad, who’s recovering from a facet pressure.
Pacer Mohammad Ali, who performed each Bangladesh Assessments, and batter Kamran Ghulam, an unused member of the squad, have been dropped.
All-rounder Aamer Jamal returns after lacking the Bangladesh collection with a again drawback.
“We’re very a lot wanting ahead to the collection towards England right here in Pakistan and can’t look forward to it to start,” Gillespie was quoted as saying by the PCB.
Squad (for first Check): Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel, Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Mir Hamza, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi.