Rashid Latif: “On one hand, you’re saying that Shan Masood can’t play in the middle order. On the other hand, you have a batter who performed as an opener in PSL in the middle order. How do you justify that?”
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Rashid Latif has called out Pakistan captain Babar Azam for his selection choices after he picked Mohammad Haris over Shan Masood.
Azam had said it would be unfair for Masood to play in the middle order since he is used to opening the batting.
However, Latif pointed out that Haris opened the batting for the Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and was still selected for the ODI series against the West Indies, where he batted in the middle order.
He asked Azam to justify the selection of the 21-year-old after he batted twice in the three ODIs he played against the men from the Caribbean and made scores of 6 and 0.
“On one hand, you’re saying that Shan Masood can’t play in the middle order. On the other hand, you have a batter who performed as an opener in PSL in the middle order. How do you justify that?” the former wicketkeeper-batsman said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricwick.
Masood was recalled to the Pakistan Test squad for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka following his outstanding performances for Derbyshire in England. However, he was included in the playing XI for both Tests.
The 32-year-old made 1,074 runs in eight County Championship games, which included three centuries and four fifties, at an average of 82.61.
He also amassed 547 runs in 14 T20 Blast games, which included five half-centuries, at an average of 45.58 and a strike-rate of 139.89.
Masood has not been selected for Pakistan’s tour of the Netherlands or the Asia Cup.
Haris, meanwhile, is in Pakistan’s squad for the three-match ODI series against the Netherlands, which will be held in Rotterdam from August 16 to 21.
Following that, the men in green will head to the UAE for the Asia Cup, which is scheduled to be played from August 27 to September 11.
Pakistan squad for Netherlands ODIs: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zahid Mehmood
Pakistan squad for Asia Cup: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir
I keep saying since 7 years shan masood can only perform in domestic level he is not a international standard palyer he is boring olayer to watch on screen if he olay odi Or t20 people will switch off their television so please dont bring him in international level I am a cricket expert since 1987