Ramiz Raja and Shan Masoud
Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja has questioned the Pakistan Cricket Board’s decision to remove Shan Masood as Test captain ahead of the upcoming tours of the West Indies and England.The PCB brought back Babar Azam to lead the Test team, but Raja believes Shan has been unfairly blamed for the team’s poor performance.Speaking on his YouTube channel, Raja said that Shan is expected to achieve results despite not having a strong enough team. Ramez commented, saying: “You give him a normal test team and then expect him to achieve good results.”
He added that if he were in Shan’s place, he would have appealed the board’s decision.
“If I were Shan, I would have submitted a written protest to the board that when you are constantly given the captaincy by a group of mediocre players, how can you expect positive results?” Raja said.He also defended Shan by asking why the captain alone was held responsible. “If the standard of the Test team is not good, how can the captain be solely responsible for that,” he added.Shan Masood has led Pakistan in 16 Tests since December 2023, but the team has lost 12 of those matches.
First selector Aqib Javed recently blamed Shan’s leadership for the poor results, an opinion with which Raja disagreed, saying that a skipper can only perform with the quality of players at his disposal.Pakistan has now brought back Babar Azam as Test captain. The team will depart for the West Indies on July 13 for a two-Test series before traveling to England for a further three Test matches in August and September.