Pakistan cricket team’s Test captain Shan Masood has opened up for the first time on Babar Azam resuming charge as the team skipper in white-ball formats. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently reappointed Babar Azam as the ODI and T20I captain which ended Shaheen Shah Afridi's one-series stint as skipper.
Babar had previously resigned as Pakistan's captain in all formats after Pakistan's poor performance during the ODI World Cup 2023 campaign. The team couldn’t qualify for the semi-finals as they won just four games out of nine. Following this, Afridi led the T20I squad while Masood took over as Pakistan's red-ball captain.
Masood expressed his understanding of the board's decision and suggested that the new selection committee have a plan in mind. He went on to say that the decision might involve Afridi’s workload.
“There's a new set-up that's come in, a new selection committee, and you always have a plan. And they saw a certain plan and we saw through the explanation that they probably want Shaheen Afridi to be rested as well, his workload to be managed. Because we lost Naseem Shah last year just before the World Cup which proved to be very costly to Pakistan. Changes happen, changes happened during the winter,” Masood said to Pakistan Cricket.
Masood also feels that every Pakistan player will support Azam as a skipper as they have a common goal to win as a team.
“I think for us as players we've got a common goal of making sure the Pakistan team does well. Whoever is leading it, everyone is behind them and ready to put in a good shift for them,” he further added.
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