LAHORE: At a time when the camp of 49 players of the national cricket team is going on in Lahore for two different formats, there are reports that the head coach of the Test team Sarfaraz Ahmed will continue to play his role in the tours of the West Indies and England.
39-year-old former Test wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed, who has the experience of playing 54 Tests, 117 ODIs and 61 T20s for Pakistan, was given the responsibilities of coaching the national Test team from the Pakistan Under-19 team for the two Tests of the tour of Bangladesh, where the national team had to suffer a bitter defeat in both the Test matches played in Mirpur and Sylhet.
After the defeat, there were speculations that Sarfaraz Ahmed was going to step down as the Test team head coach and that former Test captain Younis Khan would take over his responsibilities in his place. However, Sarfaraz Ahmed, who leads 22 cricketers as the head of the red ball team in Lahore, is reported to have been given a clean chit by the board for the tours of the West Indies and England.
On the other hand, the Test team captain and left-handed batsman Shan Masood, who has scored 2653 runs in 46 Test matches for Pakistan, has a place in the national team.
However, there are ambiguities regarding his leadership. A few days ago, Test captain Shan Masood met PCB Chairman Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi in Lahore.
However, Shan Masood’s future as captain is yet to be decided. On the one hand, the national team has lost 12 out of 16 Tests under the leadership of the Test captain, but his performance as captain seems to be of a very high standard, where Shan Masood has managed to score 1065 runs with 2 centuries and 10 half-centuries during 16 Tests.
All-rounder and T20 captain Salman Ali Agha is a strong candidate to lead the Test team in place of Shan Masood. However, the right-handed batsman, who has scored 1663 runs in 25 Tests for Pakistan, has not played any Test in England. On the contrary, Shan Masood has the experience of playing 5 Tests in England for the national team in 2016 and 2020.
Not only this, he has also led the English counties Yorkshire and Derbyshire and this seems to be going in his favor because Shan Masood can handle the English media better as a captain during the tour of England.
And all these things are important for the PCB think tank. Although Salman Ali Agha has the support of key members of the selection committee, on a difficult and arduous tour of England, where there have always been problems for the national team on and off the field, it will be a challenge for the PCB to take the field without Shan Masood as captain. In this regard, discussions are underway to remove or retain Shan Masood from the leadership.
