Shan Masood: “Babar has vast experience since he has captained the side for four years and even when he isn’t the captain, he still is the leader of the team”
Image courtesy of: Unsplash
Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood said Babar Azam “still is the leader of the team”, indicating that he plans to ask his predecessor for captaincy advice.
Azam resigned from the leadership role after Pakistan were eliminated from the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Since he served as captain for four years, Masood plans to utilise the 29-year-old’s “vast experience” to help take the team to new heights.
“Babar has vast experience since he has captained the side for four years and even when he isn’t the captain, he still is the leader of the team. He had a major contribution in taking this team forward. I think he will take this team forward from now onwards,” Masood was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
In the World Cup, Azam made 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.
Pakistan won their first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing four in a row to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.
Despite fighting back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they could not make it to the semi-finals.
The men in green concluded their campaign on a sour note as England thumped them by 93 runs.
Masood and Azam will now feature in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia, which gets underway on December 14 in Perth.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi
[TS_Poll id=”100″]