Wahab Riaz: “Shan is a very talented and skilful player and maybe in the future we can include him in the (T20) squad but this time around we just weren’t able to carve a space out for him”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan chief selector Wahab Riaz conceded Test captain Shan Masood is “a very talented and skilful player”, but pointed out that there is simply no space for him in the T20I team.
Masood hasn’t played T20Is since November 2022, but Wahab insisted that he hasn’t given up on the 34-year-old top order batsman yet as he could make a return at some point in the future.
With the 2024 T20 World Cup fast approaching, the clock is ticking for Masood in regards to finding a way to convince the selectors to recall him into the T20I squad.
“Shan Masood is not included in the squad even though everyone knows of his skills and experience. Shan is a very talented and skilful player and maybe in the future we can include him in the (T20) squad but this time around we just weren’t able to carve a space out for him,” Wahab was quoted as saying by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) website.
Masood recently made his debut as Test captain in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia, which the men in green lost 3-0.
Pakistan were then involved in a five-match T20I series against New Zealand, which they lost 4-1.
Masood is now captaining the Karachi Kings in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and has accumulated 81 runs in five matches at an average of 16.20 and a strike-rate of 97.59.
Karachi Kings Squad for PSL 9: Shan Masood (captain), Kieron Pollard, Daniel Sams, Mohammad Nawaz, James Vince, Hasan Ali, Tim Seifert, Shoaib Malik, Tabraiz Shamsi, Mir Hamza, Muhammad Akhlaq, Mohammad Amir Khan, Anwar Ali, Arafat Minhas, Irfan Khan, Sirajuddin, Saad Baig, Jamie Overton, Leus du Plooy, Mohammad Rohid, Zahid Mahmood