Captain Shan Masood previews test series against England

MULTAN: Pakistan’s Shan Masood discussed the team’s preparations for the upcoming test series against England on Sunday. The captain discussed what the team expects from the English side, as he announced Pakistan’s playing XI.

Shan Masood began by announcing the playing XI as follows: Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Amir Jamal, Shaheeen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed, and of course, himself.

The topic of Ben Stokes came up immediately. Stokes’ is England’s captain and is currently out with injury. A reporter asked “how vulnerable is the English side without Ben stokes.”

“Do you think they will stoke less fire? he said, trying to add some levity to the press conference.

Shad Masood smiled before answering. “We all know Ben stokes quality, he is one of the worlds top all rounders,” he said. But Masood added that England has played without him before and their team’s strength isn’t decided by just one person.

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Another reporter asked if Pakistan could “capitalise on the path that Sri Lanka showed us?” Sri Lanka and England played three test matches against each other earlier in the year, with England coming out on top in the series. However, Sri Lanka did win the last match out of the three that were played.

“Sri Lanka showed us some things, but the conditions are completely different,” Masood said, adding that instead, the team should draw inspiration from Pakistan’s own last series against England.

“If there’s anything we should draw inspiration from, it’s our last series with England,” Masood said. The team was close to winning in that series, shared the captain. He stated that there were opportunities to win that the team didn’t capitalise on, something they hope to change for the upcoming series.

“We need to focus on our strengths and play the best cricket we can,” the captain said.

One reporter brought up the topic of England’s aggressive playstyle, asking how the Pakistani side would combat that.

“We know their style, but at the end of the day, we need to focus on our strengths,” said Masood. He said that the playing XI were decided based on what the team has seen from England, and that there is a clarity in the Pakistani side.

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Another topic of discussion was the strategy heading into the first test on Monday. Masood expressed that the team’s lack of batters against Bangladesh was their downfall, something they’ve changed with their current playing XI.

Specifically, he praised Amir Jamal who showed Pakistan his batting capabilities in Australia.

“We need to take a good start that we can gain some momentum from,” said Masood. In order to take a good start, the team will need to adapt as the match goes on.

“Can’t decide a test match strategy in one day, it changes over the course of the match,” the captain said. He expressed that the team will need to figure out how to tackle each challenge the test series presents as they come. Changes come in test cricket “every day” he said.