Pakistan Test skipper Shan Masood has offered his support to opener Abdullah Shafique who as of recent, has not been in good form whatsoever. Shafique has scored 457 runs in his last 19 innings at an average of 24.05. Out of those, 201 came in one innings against Sri Lanka in Colombo. Take out that innings and Shafique’s average drops to 14.22.
However, even with Shafique’s below-par batting average, Masood has compared him to India’s star batter Virat Kohli saying he has produced better numbers than what the Indian batter did at the start of his career.
After 19 Tests, Shafique has scored 1372 runs at an average of 40.35, while Kohli got 1153 runs @ 37.19. Shafique has played 4 more innings than Kohli did.
After getting retained as captain of the Pakistan Test team, Masood faced some fiery questions in the press conference.
“Have we still not come out of this liking and disliking in the team? We are continuing to give those (inconsistent) players chances…Shouldn’t (batsman) Kamran Ghulam be given a chance from now on?… Be it Abdullah Shafique or Saim Ayub, the same set of players are playing the T20s and Tests,” asked a journalist.
“With all due respect, I don’t think your question is accurate…I agree that Pakistan hasn’t played good cricket in 2024. If I back a player who becomes a good servant for Pakistan cricket and lose my own spot in the process, I will have no regrets. Things should be looked at objectively. You talk about stats. The other day I was reading a stat that Abdullah Shafique, who has played 19 Tests, has a better record than Virat Kohli,” Masood replied.
Pakistan’s next test in red-ball cricket will come in the form of a home series against England which is set to commence from October 7.
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