Pakistan national cricket team’s red-ball captain Shan Masood received a treatment from Hardik Pandya as fans chanted for Babar Azam during the first Test of the two-match series between Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Masood was appointed as the captain of the Pakistan Test team after Babar Azam stepped down from captaincy across all formats following the 2023 World Cup debacle. He first captained the team on a red-ball tour to Australia and under his leadership, the team did not perform well.
The Australians outplayed Shan Masood’s side in all three matches of the series, resulting in a humiliating thrashing.
Meanwhile, after a change in the Pakistan Cricket Board, they reappointed Babar Azam as white-ball captain, sacked Shaheen Afridi but retained Masood as Test captain, showing faith in his leadership abilities.
However, fans seem to disagree with the Pakistan Cricket Board as they called for Babar to be reinstated as the red-ball captain as well.
This happened during the third day of the first Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Friday, August 23.
Chants of “Hamara kaptaan kaisa ho, Babar Azam jaisa ho” (our captain should be like Babar Azam) resonated throughout the stadium during the second session.
Watch: Fans mock Shan Masood as they erupt into chants of ‘Hamara Kaptaan Kaisa Ho, Babar Azam Jaisa Ho’
“What kind of captain are we, like Babar Azam?” 🥵#BabarAzam|#BabarAzam pic.twitter.com/lTFQCVL1hJ
– Babar Azam 56 (@BabarAzam_152) August 23, 2024
BABAR tery jaan nisar, beshumar beshumar 💖 pic.twitter.com/OA5cWL7jAG
— Anas Tweets (@tweeets_by_anas) August 23, 2024
It is noteworthy that the treatment given to Masood by the fans was quite similar to the one received by Hardik Pandya after replacing Rohit Sharma as the captain of Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2024.
As for the ongoing match, the pitch has not performed as Pakistan would have liked after fielding a wide-paced attack for the match. Before the first Test match, Pakistan released Abrar Ahmed from the squad and announced that they would field a wide-paced attack, indicating the favourable nature of the surface.
However, so far, the Pacers have not been able to dominate the game and the batsmen have been able to score runs with ease. Pakistan, after being down and out at 16/3, bounced back strongly and posted a mammoth total of 448/6d on the board.
Superstar wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan and vice-captain Saud Shakeel were the saviours for the Men in Green as they batted exceptionally and scored massively. Rizwan played a sensational innings of 171 runs while Shakeel scored 141 runs.
After posting a big score in the first innings, Pakistan struggled to get wickets in the second innings, and at the end of play on Day 3, the Bangla Tigers were at 316/5 and trailing by 132 runs.
Speaking to the media after the third day of play, Pakistan coach Azhar Mahmood expressed disappointment over his team’s bowling performance, saying they were not disciplined enough and bowled bad balls. He said:
“We have not been disciplined in the last 12 overs. We have bowled too many bad balls in the last hour or so. I won’t say we misread the pitch. I would say the pitch didn’t behave the way we wanted it to.”
