Shan Masood: Efforts to remove the captain of the Pakistan cricket team have started once again. According to Pakistani media reports, Shan Masood, who became the Test captain after Babar Azam, is also going to lose this post. According to the report of Pakistani channel Express News, Shan Masood can be removed from the post of Test captain and Mohammad Rizwan can become the Test captain in his place.
The Pakistani team has not won a single Test under the captaincy of Shan Masood. It has lost all five Tests so far. After losing the Test series in Australia, the Pakistani team captained by Shan Masood also lost the Test series against Bangladesh at home. Bangladesh defeated Pakistan 2-0.
There are reports that the PCB is very upset with Pakistan's defeat against Bangladesh and hence it has now decided to make Mohammad Rizwan the captain. However, Mohammad Rizwan can captain Pakistan not only in Tests but also in ODIs and T20 formats. Under the captaincy of Babar Azam, the Pakistani team played the T20 World Cup where it lost to the USA and was eliminated from the tournament in the first round itself. Now there is talk of making Rizwan the captain of all three formats.
As far as Mohammad Rizwan is concerned, he is the best performer in the current Pakistan team in all three formats. The 32-year-old has scored 1910 runs in 52 Test innings at an average of 44.41. He also has 2088 runs in ODIs at an average of over 40. His batting average in T20 is over 48 and he has scored 3313 runs.
It is clear that Mohammad Rizwan is playing well in all three formats, so his becoming the captain seems almost certain. On the other hand, the form of Babar Azam, Shan Masood and Shaheen Afridi has been very poor in the last one year, so they may have to bear the brunt of it. Shan Masood may also be out of the Test team whose average is less than 30 in this format. Now it remains to be seen what decision the PCB takes. For the time being, Pakistan players will play in the Champions ODI Cup, after which the team has to play a three-match Test series against England at home.