Shan Masood opens up after becoming Pakistan's Test captain

KARACHI: Left-handed batter Shan Masood was announced as the new Pakistan's Test captain after Babar Azam stepped down from captaincy across formats.

The 34-year-old Shan has featured in 30 Tests, scoring 1,597 runs, which includes four centuries and seven half-centuries.

Shan has been appointed captain till the end of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25. Shan’s first assignment as captain will be a three-match Test series against Australia in Australia starting from 14 December.

Meanwhile, Shan opened up and is thankful to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for giving the opportunity.

"I am grateful to the PCB for giving me the opportunity to lead the Pakistan team. Red-ball cricket is a challenging format; it's a challenge, It is our collective responsibility to take the team forward together," Shan said.

"We want to play a brand of cricket that becomes our identity," he added.

Meanwhile, left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah was announced captain of Pakistan's T20I format and his first assignment as captain will be the five-match T20I series in New Zealand in January 2024.

It must be noted that Babar Azam stepped down from captaincy through a post on social media after the PCB offered him to keep Test captaincy. The 29-year-old refused and informed the board in the meeting that he was resigning from all formats.

Babar was appointed white-ball captain in 2019 and as Test skipper in 2020, but the Green Shirts have not won any ICC or Asia Cup titles under his leadership.

Although the Pakistan team went into the World Cup ranked as the top side, they failed to prove their mettle and crashed out of the tournament in the group stage.