Iqbal Qasim: “If Saud Shakeel is handed the captaincy instead of Shan Masood, what assurance do we have that he will lead the team to victories? How many times has he captained a team in his career?”
Image courtesy of: Unsplash
Former Pakistan left-arm spinner Iqbal Qasim is against the idea of having Saud Shakeel replace Shan Masood as Test captain.
Reports have suggested that Masood’s tenure as Test skipper could come to an end in the near future since the men in green haven’t produced the results expected.
Since Shakeel is vice-captain, it is only natural to assume that he would succeed Masood should the latter be removed from the leadership role.
However, Qasim questioned whether the men in green will be successful under Shakeel, stating “what assurance do we have that he will lead the team to victories?”
“If Saud Shakeel is handed the captaincy instead of Shan Masood, what assurance do we have that he will lead the team to victories? How many times has he captained a team in his career? If the captain is replaced, should we also drop the other players from the team? If Saud Shakeel is brought in, he will do the same things Shan did,” he told Sports World as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
“In my opinion, a change in captaincy will not have a major impact on the team’s performance.”
Recently, Shakeel captained the Quetta Gladiators in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and scored 237 runs in 12 matches, which included a top score of 59, at an average of 26.33 and a strike-rate of 117.32.
Masood, meanwhile, played for the Karachi Kings and mustered 27 runs in three games at an average of nine and a strike-rate of 84.37.
Following PSL 10, both Shakeel and Masood were not included in Pakistan’s team for the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh, which the men in green won 3-0.
Pakistan then toured Bangladesh for a three-match T20I series and were beaten 2-1.
Pakistan are now touring the West Indies for three T20Is and three ODIs.
They lead 1-0 in the T20I series after winning the first match by 14 runs.
The 2nd T20I will take place on August 3 in Lauderhill.
Pakistan Squad for West Indies T20I Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Sufiyan Muqeem
Pakistan Squad for West Indies ODI Series: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Salman Ali Agha, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Sufiyan Muqeem
[TS_Poll id=”99″]