Pakistan have done away with Shan Masood as their Test captain, approximately two and a half years after appointing him. Shan, who made his debut in 2013 but had struggled to get a consistent run in the team, took over the side following Babar Azam’s resignation from all-format captaincy after a middling 2023 ODI World Cup.
Pakistan under Shan Masood
But Pakistan’s fate only worsened under the left-handed batter. Since taking over, Pakistan have won only four out of 16 Tests. That record places him among the least successful Test captains in Pakistan’s history in terms of win-loss ratio.
He also holds the joint fourth-worst record among Test captains who have led their sides in more than five matches. Additionally, he has not won a single away Test during his captaincy stint. His worst came as he led Pakistan to a second consecutive 2-0 whitewash against Bangladesh, where discussions of his axing began.
Pakistan’s high-performance director, Aaqib Javed, pointed out that consistent losing patterns without any progress were the reason why the board decided to replace Shan.
“Ultimately, a captain’s job is to deliver results and ensure the team’s progress. Shan Masood had one good run in almost three years, but things were not moving in the right direction. We also saw several lapses during the Bangladesh series, and we fully accept those despite the circumstances we were dealing with,” Javed said.
Lapses in captaincy
Of course, defeats are never a one-man fault. In cricket, you lose as a team just as you win as a team. Shan’s poor captaincy record had other factors tagging along, which included a lack of bowling depth and pace, failure to take 20 wickets, and a weak top order. But Javed believes it all only worsened with captaincy issues.
“Our bowlers may not be the very best, but a captain’s responsibility is to use them effectively. Decisions such as the toss, DRS, bowling changes, and plans to dismiss the opposition’s tailenders were not producing positive results, and those were areas where we felt improvement was needed,” he stated.
One positive thing for both Pakistan and Shan during his stint as captain was that his returns with the bat started looking better. Two of his six hundreds in a 13-year career came as a captain, and against teams like South Africa and England no less.
“Shan’s batting performances were reasonable, but appointing a new captain was about looking ahead. We wanted to make changes that we believed would help the team progress and address the issues that had continued to surface,” Aaqib added.
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