Shan Masood has ‘no complaints about unity’ in the Pakistan team

“Every captain has his own style,” said Masood. “I’m focused on maintaining the environment in the dressing room; that’s what worries me the most. I’ve never seen a lack of unity or effort from the boys. There are aspects of cricket that we need to improve, but I have no complaints about unity.”

Masood said that players in longer formats have got the right to get more time. “Babar Azam is among the best batsmen in the world. You have to give time to your players, not just Babar Azam. Babar does not look out of form, he is starting,” said Masood. “There was a gap of ten months between the Australia and Bangladesh Tests, which did not help us at all. He played a long innings for the Champions. [One-Day] Cup where he held the pressure and changed gears. That might help him in Tests now. He is the team’s number one hitter.

“We have to give the players an equal opportunity and if we get Kamran Ghulam in the side, he should also run for a long time instead of chopping and changing. We want to always get our players back, and whoever comes in should not feel that their place is at risk from day one.”

“Saim [Ayub] he got two 50s in the last two Tests, if we dropped him after the first Test, I’ve got that from me; not fun,” he said. “When I was out of the team for two years, I averaged over 60 in List A cricket, but Imam. [ul-Haq-] and Fakhar [Zaman] they have been doing. I did not complain that I was not selected, because I understood that the level of competition was high. If the coach supported the players, they did the right thing.

“If I support a player who ends up being a good worker for Pakistan cricket, and ends up taking over for me, I won’t feel bad. If I support the right thing, I’ll sleep well at night.”

“Hasnain was bowling well again [was] stand out for me,” said Masood. “If I’m picking a team, my question to him would be if he bowls well, how well can he do in red ball cricket?’ We should appreciate the ability of fast bowling in test cricket. It is a very difficult skill and you need to be very fit to use it so we have to let you know.

“Fast bowling puts a huge amount of stress on the body, and wherever I have played test cricket, the workload of the fast bowlers has always been under control. Injuries to fast bowlers are common so you must continue to build stocks of fast bowlers. Personally, what I have said to the fast bowlers is that they will play a big role in taking wickets 20 So we have set some standards so that the fast bowlers are strong players in our team. That is the only way they will be able to bowl an effective third and fourth spell, so that is the standard we are looking to set.”