We are “responsible” for our defeats, says Pakistan Captain Shan Masood

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Test squad captain Shan Masood gave a press conference on Monday ahead of the test series against England.

Masood outlined the team’s previous faults against Bangladesh, their preparations for the upcoming series against England, and his overall feelings as captain of the team.

“Leading the team is a privilege and a great responsibility,” said Shan Masood.

LOSS AGAINST BANGLADESH

The captain expressed how the team is trying to move on from their disappointing defeat against Bangladesh, in which they lost both matches of the test series.

“The results that we wanted, especially against Bangladesh, didn’t come,” said Masood, taking responsibility for the poor performances against Bangladesh.

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He discussed how the team faltered despite feeling like they had learned from their series against Australia. “We felt that we took a step in the right direction against Australia, but by the time we played Bangladesh, I don’t think we took the good things and converted it into winning results,” he said.

But despite the poor performances, the captain advised against drastic changes to the team. “To make any team, you need to back the players” adding that “you have to show consistency in the selection.”

Masood expressed that changing the team following a loss is easy. The team could also change it’s play style. But in order to take Pakistani Cricket as a whole forward, “consistency and backing matters a lot.”

He assured that the players are feeling a lot of pain for their last performance. “First of all, we will take responsibility, we are accountable. The results that came were not up to the mark,” he said.  But, he reiterated that now it is important to back our players, as “they are all eager to come back in this next series and put forth their best performance.”

PREPARATION FOR ENGLAND

Regarding their preparations for the upcoming series, Masood discussed the One Day Champions Cup that has been taking place in Faisalabad. “If we look at it, the standard of cricket that we got to see was good,” he said, citing the physical and mental demands of playing under the weather conditions in Faisalabad.

He stated that “we’ve prepared well,” despite the differences in challenge that the forthcoming series will bring.

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TEAM SELECTION

Regarding team selection, he stated that the team has “tried to cover all bases. If we find that spinners will suit the pitch more, then we can play the spinners. If we need to play fast bowlers, then we will play fast bowlers.”

Masood also discussed Khurram Shahzad, who debuted against Australia at the end of last year. He said that Shahzad “is a very integral part of this side, and we all saw his performance in the last test match.” Shahzad took 7 wickets in the last test match he played, which was against Bangladesh.

“We will assess the conditions and of course Khurram’s fitness needs to come back,” said Masood on the topic of whether Shahzad will be available for the upcoming series. “We will see all these things and then we will announce our plans moving forward.”

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Masood stated that starting well in the upcoming series is of utmost importance. “First and foremost, we need to take it one step at a time, and our goal is to some way take a good start,” he said.