Shan Masood set to continue as Pakistan Test skipper despite question marks about his position in recent times.
Shan Masood to continue as Pakistan Test captain for 2025-27 WTC cycle.
Pakistan will be captained by Shan Masood during the 2025–2027 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. After Masood met with PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi and Pakistan’s red-ball coach Azhar Mahmood, the PCB reiterated its faith in the incumbent Test captain.
Masood and Mahmood have been granted “free hand” of the Test side, according to a PCB statement, though it didn’t specify what that meant. The five-member selection committee for the Test team, which includes Aleem Dar, Aqib Javed, Asad Shafiq, and Azhar Ali, does not include the captain or coach.
Following Pakistan’s bottom-place performance in the 2023–25 WTC cycle, there was conjecture on Masood’s future. For the whole of that cycle, he was captain. Masood was downgraded from the ‘B’ category to ‘D’, the lowest rung of central contracts, when the PCB released player contracts for the 2025–26 season last month.
A number of changes occurred in the role of Pakistan’s Test coach during that period, including the brief tenure of Jason Gillespie, which ended in acrimony. Given that, Masood’s circumstances have significantly improved, and a new beginning may be in store as a result of the PCB’s show of trust in him.
Masood produced valuable contributions at the top of the order after establishing himself as an opener during the last four Test matches after a lengthy spell at No. 3, even though consistency with the bat has remained elusive. His average is greater as captain than it has ever been under any other captain, having risen into the mid-30s after two massive hundreds, one in South Africa and one at home against England. But under Masood, Pakistan has lost nine of their last 12 Test matches, so victories have been few and far between.
South Africa, the reigning WTC champions, will play two Test matches in Pakistan in October, and Masood will face them in the opening test of the current WTC cycle.