It’s nearly time to let Shan Masood go
By: Hamza Tariq
Shan Masood is a gritty player. He wants to do well for his team and seemingly tries his best. He’s even eloquent enough that a few murmur “captaincy material” after each of his high scores. But he has a tough job, and he fails much more frequently at it than he succeeds.
His best score since that gritty 156 in Manchester last August has been 18. That’s eight innings since then where he has averaged 4.13, including four ducks.
These scores have come against England and New Zealand — both formidable bowling attacks — especially in their home conditions. Pakistani fans do have a tendency to forget the highs quickly — let’s also consider the eight innings before his form went out the window.
Leading up to Manchester, Masood scored 525 runs at an average of 65.63 across eight innings. 285 — or 54 per cent — of those runs came against Australia and England in away tours. He scored the remaining 240 runs (average: 60) at home against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, which included two centuries.
All of this — the highs and the lows — have happened within the space of 16 innings and in little over a year.
So put yourself in the selector’s seat: do you drop Shan Masood just yet? And who takes his place?
Australia faced a similar dilemma with Joe Burns recently. Since 2019, he scored 523 runs at an average of 37.35 across 15 innings. In search of stability at the top, the Australians backed their incumbent opener until the Boxing Day Test against India last month — when he finally was axed. Burns scored three fifties and one century during this time. Across the same period, Masood scored 729 runs at an average of 34.71 across 21 innings. He scored three centuries and two fifties.
Based on numbers alone, the Australian selector would drop Masood despite the sporadic high scores, especially considering that two of the three centuries came against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh at home. But Pakistan has never quite had the Test batting bench that Australia possesses — and even they’ve struggled with finding a replacement for Burns. Very bluntly, Pakistan does not have like-for-like replacement options. In the 2021 Quaid-e-Azam (QeA) Trophy only one opener made it to the top ten run scorers’ list. But even Israrullah (KP) comes down at 8th — averaging 38.52 across 11 innings — and with a career average of 36.94 at age 30 does not inspire a lot of confidence. The other way round could be to introduce some of other QeA and domestic top-order performers such as Usman Salahuddin, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, and Adil Amin. But give them an extended run to adjust to a new role at the highest level. Or jig up the current batting order, squeezing one of the current regulars such as Azhar Ali or Mohammad Rizwan in the opening spot while potential debutants start down the order without adding onto an already unreasonable amount of pressure and scrutiny.
Despite Masood’s vein of form over the past year or so — it might be time to let go. But, I think he should still be selected for the South Africa Tests at home. Not arguing his talent or lack thereof, but if selections are to be done on merit and with solid reasons — something Pakistani cricket clearly lacks — Masood has done it all to guarantee himself a shot at the next home series. He has two centuries in four innings, admittedly, against weaker sides. But a South African bowling line up will truly test his ability and that should be the deciding factor for his selection or letting him go for good. It’s an opportunity for Pakistani selectors to make wise, reasonable decisions — and not run away with their own or the public’s emotions.
