Shan Masood selection saga: Is his place in the squad justified?

On Tuesday, PCB announced the Pakistani squad that will be travelling to the United Arab Emirates for Asia Cup. There are some quite unexpected additions and changes to the Pakistani squad of 50-over format.

The most surprising event from the line-up was the exclusion of Mohammad Hafeez from the 16 men squad which resulted in opener Shan Masood taking place of the star all-rounder.

The cricket fans from all over Pakistan were wondering on the decision made by the cricket board. The pundits were arguing whether his selection in the side is justified or not. They were recalling his miserable stint for Pakistan in the longest format. Shan Masood did not have a very remarkable time in Test Cricket for Pakistan. He scored 565 runs in 12 Test matches and averaged 23.54 in 24 innings.

Shan Masood was dropped from the Test squad of Pakistan due to his terrible performance and Imam ul Haq took his place in the purest form of the game.

The significant questions related to his selection case were asked by critics on social media. One asked, “Is the bad execution in one format is a criterion for not selecting any player for the other formats?”

In February 2018, Regional One Day Cup was organised by PCB in Rawalpindi. Shan Masood was the highest run scorer of the tournament by scoring 652 runs with average of 109.33 and strike-rate of 100.45 in eight games.

The Regional One Day Cup holds a great importance in the domestic structure of Pakistan. The performance of Shan in one of the key domestic tournaments showed his positive attitude and intent despite all the speculations going around.

Shan was knocking the doors for his selection. In the meanwhile, PCB held another 50-over tournament in May. The tournament was named Pakistan Cup and players were selected in it in the draft process. Shan represented Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and scored 240 runs with average of 60.00. He turned out to be the second highest run-getter for his team.

Presently, Shan Masood is holding a splendid triumph in his bag. He is averaging 58.21 which are best among the players who have played List A cricket. Moreover, Shan is reputed one of the fittest cricketers of Pakistan.

This could be the motto of Shan Masood right now “The actions speak louder than the words.” He earned his place in the team in a right way because that’s what his book of statistics is showing.

Pakistan will commence their campaign against Hong Kong on September 16. Shan might be provided his debut stint in this game but it depends on management whether they will do experiment with their regular line-up or not.

Nevertheless, it will be very fascinating to see how Shan settles his nerves against all the odds if he is provided chance on the stage of international cricket.