Pakistan national cricket team’s red-ball head coach Jason Gillespie has issued a strong verdict on Shan Masood’s captaincy after the conclusion of the two-match series against the Bangladesh national cricket team.
Shan Masood replaced Babar Azam as Test captain at the end of 2023 and has so far captained the team in two series. He began his stint as full-time captain in the series against the Australian National Cricket Team.
Under his leadership, Pakistan faced an embarrassing 360-run defeat against Pat Cummins and company in the series opener at Perth before losing the next two matches by 79 runs and 8 wickets in Melbourne and Sydney.
Then, Shan Masood recently led the team in their first home series against Bangladesh, and failed to guide his team to victory. Pakistan faced a shock 10-wicket defeat in the first Test and a 6-wicket loss in the second Test to face a whitewash at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
His performances with the bat in the home matches against the Najmul Hossain Shanto-led side were also disappointing. Shan Masood scored 6 and 14 in the opening clash of the series and performed slightly better in the second Test, registering scores of 57 and 28.
Pakistan’s form in home Tests has been so miserable that they have not won for 1,303 days, with their last home win coming in early 2021.
Despite Shan Masood being on a five-match losing streak, Jason Gillespie backed him, saying that he had done a good job as captain and that the reason for Pakistan’s losses had been the team’s poor performance. He said, as quoted by Cricket Pakistan:
“I think Shan has led the team really well. We just haven’t played well as a team and that’s the reality. We need to improve in certain areas and we will. I really want to back and believe in these players, they are good enough and have shown glimpses of how good we are. We just need to do it more often and consistently.”
Shan Masood made a third-class captaincy: Jason Gillespie defends Pakistan captain but Tanvir Ahmed launches attack
While Jason Gillespie backed the criticised Masood, former Pakistan national cricket team player Tanvir Ahmed slammed the red-ball captain, labelling his leadership as third-class.
“Babar k contra bolney walon bolo ab shan masood ney third class captaincy ki ha (People who were criticising Babar, now come forward and say that Shan did third class captaincy),” the former Pakistan pacer wrote on X.
Babar k against talking words said that Abshan Masood has occupied the third class captaincy.
– Tanveer says (@ImTanveerA) September 3, 2024
He also mocked Babar Azam’s critics with a sarcastic post on X, saying that Azam was responsible for the defeat as he was facing Bangladesh alone and the rest of the players were enjoying the wedding.
“I am disappointed with Pakistan team’s loss in the Test series against Bangladesh because of Babar Azam as he was playing alone against them and the rest of the players had come to attend a wedding,” he wrote in another post.
It is a pity that Pakistan team lost the test series against Bangladesh or this is all Babar Azam ki Waja, how he was left alone while the rest are still there.
– Tanveer says (@ImTanveerA) September 3, 2024