Ravichandran Ashwin: “I feel terribly bad for someone like Shan Masood. Shan Masood is a very smart cricketer. I know that guy. He speaks a lot of sense. He can be a really good captain for Pakistan”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has admitted that he feels “terribly bad” for Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood as he finds himself in an undesirable situation.
Masood’s future as skipper has been thrust into the spotlight following Pakistan’s embarrassing performance in their two-Test series against Bangladesh, which they lost 2-0.
Ashwin noted that there will be even more pressure on the 34-year-old since he succeeded Babar Azam as captain and hasn’t been able to turn the team’s fortunes around.
“I feel terribly bad for someone like Shan Masood. Shan Masood is a very smart cricketer. I know that guy. He speaks a lot of sense. He can be a really good captain for Pakistan. But handling a Pakistan team at this point, where somebody like Babar Azam is not the captain and he’s the poster boy of Pakistan, it cannot be an easy dressing room,” he said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
In the Test series against Bangladesh, Masood scored 105 runs, which included a top score of 57, at an average of 26.25.
He is now playing for the Stallions in the Champions One-Day Cup, which is a domestic 50-over tournament going on in Faisalabad, and has made 102 runs in four games at an average of 25.50.
Next up for Pakistan will be a three-Test series against England, which will be held from October 7 to 28 in Multan and Rawalpindi.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi
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