Shan Masood has been made the Test captain in place of Babar Azam.Image Credit source: AFP
Big changes are taking place in the Pakistan cricket team after its miserable failure in the World Cup 2023. Babar Azam, who was the captain of the team in the World Cup, resigned from the captaincy of all formats. In such a situation, Pakistan Cricket Board has also announced new captains for T20 and Test. The board has made batsman Shan Masood the test captain of the team. Just two days after getting the captaincy, Shaan’s start seemed to be in danger when he had a minor accident on the field.
On Wednesday, November 15, just a few minutes after the resignation of Babar Azam, the Pakistani board had announced the appointment of experienced left-handed batsman Shan Masood as the Test captain. Shan Masood’s first test as captain will be next month when the Pakistani team will go to Australia for the Test series. However, even before this tour, the tension between Masood, the Pakistani team and the board seemed to be increasing, when during a match, Shan Masood collided with former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed.
Heavy collision in the middle of the match
These days the ODI tournament ‘Pakistan Cup’ is being played in Pakistan. On Friday 17th November, Karachi and Multan clashed in its semi-final match. Team Karachi of Sarfaraz and Shaan scored 280 runs while batting first. Then when Multan team was chasing runs, an accident happened with Shan Masood. A catch bounced behind the bowler in the 9th over. Shan Masood ran from mid-on and Sarfaraz Ahmed from mid-off to catch it.
Sarfaraz Ahmed and Test Captain Shan Masood had a rough collision on the field. pic.twitter.com/d71LOyFdIz
— Thakur (@hassam_sajjad) November 17, 2023
Both of them saw each other at the very last moment but by then they collided. Sarfaraz immediately got up and went to catch the ball but Shaan remained lying on the field for some time and looked in pain. The physio immediately reached the field, where he was examined. It was a matter of relief for the Pakistani team and Shaan himself that the injury was not serious and he recovered. Shaan played an inning of 41 runs in this match. His team won on the basis of Duckworth-Lewis rule.
Australia tour next month
As far as the Pakistani team is concerned, it has to tour Pakistan in December, where a series of 3 test matches will be played between the two teams from 14 December to 7 January. While Shan will command the team on this tour, former captain Mohammad Hafeez will be the coach of the team. Hafeez was made the Director of Cricket by PCB on Thursday, 16 November. On Friday itself, PCB has appointed former fast bowler Wahab Riaz as the new chief selector.
