The red-ball captain of the Pakistan side, Shan Masood, has opened up on the goal that his team wants to achieve in the ongoing third cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25. He put light on how the Green Brigade would continue to play a different brand of cricket in this home summer under the guidance of their new coach of the format, Jason Gillespie.
Pakistan is currently sixth in the points table of the tournament, as they began on a strong note with two victories in Sri Lanka under the captaincy of Babar Azam before a change of leadership found them losing the three-match series in Australia, as their batters hardly had any answer to the quality pace attack of the home side.
Now, in an aim to finish the cycle as the top two teams of the competition, Shan Masood’s team would need to win all of their seven home games of the longest format, besides trying to find a victory during their only remaining away series in South Africa.
“It’s a result-oriented business at the end of the day”- Shan Masood
During the pre-match press conference on the eve of their opening game of the two-match Test series at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Islamabad, the home captain, Shan Masood, touched on the importance of playing a different brand of cricket in the upcoming future.
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“Look, I think, first of all. You want your fans and media to write good things about the team. That’s why one of our focuses is to play cricket everyone enjoys watching. It’s a result-oriented business at the end of the day. You have to have results on your mind.” The middle-order batter of the side was expressed in the presser.
It would be a packed home season in 2024-25 for the Pakistan side, as at the end of the two red-ball games against Bangladesh, they would host England for another three games in the late autumn. At the end of the trip to the Rainbow Nation towards the end of the year, they would begin the upcoming year with another two-match Test series against West Indies at home.
The 34-year-old shaded light on the importance of winning all of their home games to have a chance of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2024-25 final, as he also displayed the necessity of picking up 20 wickets constantly.
“And for us again, we have to look at our position in the World Test Championship. Yes, it was sixth and seventh before. Yes, we would like to play the final this time. So if you want to play in the finals, we have to win our home Test matches.” Shan Masood told the reports. “If we have to win that, we have to take 20 wickets consistently. And obviously, our batters should score enough and give the bowlers time to take those 20 wickets.”
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The Kuwait-born also observed that it would be vital for the side to be excited with their game and bring enthusiasm to any format of the game, as the right results would only make them excited for every game.
“I feel it’s about playing good and exciting cricket. Look, we all want Test cricket to be fun, Test cricket to be enjoyable, both for the fans and us players.” Shan Masood noted. “When we play Test cricket, we want to be excited about it and bring the same enthusiasm we do in any format.”
Both the games will be played at the same ground, while the second Test will begin on August 30, 2024.