What's new

[VIDEO] Shan Masood 2.0 - Performance Watch

He has batted with zero confidence on this tour. Even the best players when they are tortured by a relentless opposition bowling attack eventually give up and don't want to be there. Who can forget Kohlis England series of 2014 where Anderson tortured him
 
But but but he can speak English so make him captain :facepalm:

The reality is this. All players who are given enough chances will have the odd good match or odd decent series. The same is the case for Masood. However, in the end, you have recognise his domestic record where his batting average languishes in the low 30s - a batsman who is poor in Pakistani domestic cricket will, long term, be even poorer in international cricket. The decision to play and stick with Masood is a poor one and soon enough it will cause long term damage.

This is my post from 23 September 2019.

Honestly most PPers could do a better job than our management - free of charge.

Shan is rubbish but as per my post almost 14 months ago, we have always known it. I said it would cause long term damage and now it has. What can I say.
 
Pakistan probably only team that believes in 2.0, 5.0, 30+, 10 year gaps etc.

The culture of making 'comebacks' is a ridiculous one and mediocre players like Afridi, Malik, Wahab have elongated their careers in it for free.
 
Hopefully that's the end of Shan Masood 2.0 in which case goodbye and good riddance.
 
So Masood 2.0 finished the Test series with an average of 2.5.

What is the lowest average by a top order batsman in a Test series?
 
Pakistan have 18 openers better than Shan Masood 2.0

Omair yousaf, haider ali, abdullah shafiq, ali zaryab, nasir nawaz, sharjeel khan, fakhar zaman, ahmed shahzad, khurram manzoor, khalid latif, sami aslam, shazaib hassan, nasir jamshed, mussadiq ahmed, azeez ghumman, umair siddiq, imam ul haq and israrullah combined they played same matches as shan nearly.

Shan Masood has been around the international setup since 2013 and he has not looked convincing at any stage of his career Matches 25 Runs 1378 Avg 29.8 SR 46.8
 
Masood & Abbas should swap roles... masoooods bowling has been quicker n more potent than Abbas’s. And Abbas’s batting has been more solid and higher avg and strike rate than masoods....
 
The only question is whether Shan Masood 10.0 be called Shan Masood 10.0 or Shan Masood X?
 
All of them are terrible and far from decent international quality.

Only exceptions are Sharjeel Khan, Imam (Tests) and Sami Aslam (Tests).

They are as bad as Shan.

These delusions that we have good young batsmen is never going to stop.
 
Last edited:
None of these names are tried and the few that have been tried are tested failures. Even the youngsters who will have their names thrown out as saviors are struggling to play no-name bowlers in New Zealand in the format that isn't even proper cricket.

Test cricket opening is one of the hardest jobs in cricket and it has been a traditional weakness for our team especially. I think there's no quick fix for this but it's time that Azhar should move to open. He has a couple of years of cricket left in him and has played enough cricket everywhere to know how much technique is required for this role.

The second opener could be a coin toss between some 30 or so players who wish to try their luck as an opener and even Abbas should be part of that lucky draw pool.
 
No need to replace Shan with a domestic opener. Since all our top young batting prospects are middle order bats (Saud and Kamran mainly), Azhar can be a stopgap solution to opening while Omair, Haider, Zaryab, Shafique, Nawaz, Haq develop their game to take over in 1-2 years.

1. Azhar Ali
2. Abid Ali
3. Saud Shakeel
4. Babar Azam
5. Kamran Ghulam
6. Fawad Alam
7. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
8. Zafar Gohar
9. Hassan Ali
10. Sajid Khan / Yasir Shah
11. Shaheen Afridi

This should be our lineup against South Africa with a spinning track prepared.
 
Last edited:
Let's be honest, most of these guy are probably worse than Shan, and that's saying something :))
 
No need to replace Shan with a domestic opener. Since all our top young batting prospects are middle order bats (Saud and Kamran mainly), Azhar can be a stopgap solution to opening while Omair, Haider, Zaryab, Shafique, Nawaz, Haq develop their game to take over in 1-2 years.

1. Azhar Ali
2. Abid Ali
3. Saud Shakeel
4. Babar Azam
5. Kamran Ghulam
6. Fawad Alam
7. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
8. Zafar Gohar
9. Hassan Ali
10. Sajid Khan / Yasir Shah
11. Shaheen Afridi

This should be our lineup against South Africa with a spinning track prepared.

Totally agree with you about youngster's a but shareel is miles better than abid
 
This should be his last ever test inns, should never be picked for test side again.
 
Omair yousaf, haider ali, abdullah shafiq, ali zaryab, nasir nawaz, sharjeel khan, fakhar zaman, ahmed shahzad, khurram manzoor, khalid latif, sami aslam, shazaib hassan, nasir jamshed, mussadiq ahmed, azeez ghumman, umair siddiq, imam ul haq and israrullah combined they played same matches as shan nearly.

Shan Masood has been around the international setup since 2013 and he has not looked convincing at any stage of his career Matches 25 Runs 1378 Avg 29.8 SR 46.8

Ahmad shahzad lol
17.9 openers of above list are just hacks. Give 0.1 to haider ali
 
Average is back under 30 again. The best idea would seem to play our former U19 opening pairing of Imam and Sami and hope they come good given they have time on their side. Unfortunately we don't have that option anymore, and I don't see any other good young opening prospects with a decent amount of domestic/international experience already.
 
No need to replace Shan with a domestic opener. Since all our top young batting prospects are middle order bats (Saud and Kamran mainly), Azhar can be a stopgap solution to opening while Omair, Haider, Zaryab, Shafique, Nawaz, Haq develop their game to take over in 1-2 years.

1. Azhar Ali
2. Abid Ali
3. Saud Shakeel
4. Babar Azam
5. Kamran Ghulam
6. Fawad Alam
7. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
8. Zafar Gohar
9. Hassan Ali
10. Sajid Khan / Yasir Shah
11. Shaheen Afridi

This should be our lineup against South Africa with a spinning track prepared.

and what has zafar done to be selected?
 
So Masood 2.0 finished the Test series with an average of 2.5.

What is the lowest average by a top order batsman in a Test series?
[MENTION=53290]Markhor[/MENTION], so no one in Pakistan can average more than 2 runs in a series? Shan needs to go. It’s really that simple.
 
and what has zafar done to be selected?

He’s already in the setup, plus was best bowler and man of the tournament last year. I’m not really passing validation on his bowling, I just think our trump should be to employ spinning tracks against NZ with two spinners. Those 2 can be anyone between Sajid Khan, Zafar Gohar, Yasir Shah, Nauman Ali, and Zahid Mehmood. Take your pick, I went for Zafar because he’s younger than the rest and performed better than everyone last year too on flat tracks. Plus he can bat. But really the importance of that lineup is the combination - inducting two young middle order bats to be groomed both of whom are in red hot form, two young spinners, of whom Sajid Khan is in red hot form, and Hassan Ali, who is in red hot form.

I would have suggested 1 opener and 1 middle order bat instead of 2 middle orders, but there’s no opener in the trophy as deserving as Saud or Kamran. So Azhar opens as a stopgap.

If we want to develop a competent test team, we need to begin respecting first class cricket rather than fast tracking 17 year olds.
 
Last edited:
He’s already in the setup, plus was best bowler and man of the tournament last year. I’m not really passing validation on his bowling, I just think our trump should be to employ spinning tracks against NZ with two spinners. Those 2 can be anyone between Sajid Khan, Zafar Gohar, Yasir Shah, Nauman Ali, and Zahid Mehmood. Take your pick, I went for Zafar because he’s younger than the rest and performed better than everyone last year too on flat tracks. Plus he can bat. But really the importance of that lineup is the combination - inducting two young middle order bats to be groomed both of whom are in red hot form, two young spinners, of whom Sajid Khan is in red hot form, and Hassan Ali, who is in red hot form.

I would have suggested 1 opener and 1 middle order bat instead of 2 middle orders, but there’s no opener in the trophy as deserving as Saud or Kamran. So Azhar opens as a stopgap.

If we want to develop a competent test team, we need to begin respecting first class cricket rather than fast tracking 17 year olds.

That will be my team

1. Azhar Ali
2. Abid Ali/Imam (they can do handy 20, not more than that players)
3. Saud Shakeel (not sure his record but heard he is a good player )
4. Babar Azam
5. Kamran Ghulam
6. Fawad Alam
7. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
8. Fahim/Abbas
9. Hassan Ali
10.Yasir Shah/Zafar/Tom/Dick/Harry
11. Shaheen Afridi
 
This might make more sense to some now, and many might label me as a fickle fan who worships the rising sun.
So to address all of these voices, I have had this opinion for a while; much before he permanently established himself in the test team.
Now that Shan has played a career defining innings, it makes sense to makes these calls louder.

This guy is not only one of the hardest working cricketers in the world, if not in Pakistan, but he is also the smartest Pakistani cricketer that you will ever see.
Pakistan cricket's landcape has been riddled with talented but not so bright cricketers, and the captains over the years have also shared the same problem.
They have been fearful, lacking in ideas, and downright ancient in their thinking.

In such a scenario, Shan is a Godsend for us.
He is someone who believes in modern methods, is a cultured cricketer who believes in the prestige of test cricket, who has a story of redemption and reconstruction of his cricketing make-up ala Imran and his bowling action change.

He may not be the most talented player you have ever seen, but all the other aforementioned qualities are pretty much a novelty for a Pakistani cricketer in the modern age.
I seriously believe, bringing him in as captain can change our rotten cricket culture akin to how Kohli has done with India.

Having personally interacted with him during one of his evening gym sessions during Ramadan (we share the same gym and he is in there at freakin 7am usuall), I have to tell you that he is the most articulate cricketer you will ever come across.

There is wisdom only in your username. Unfortunately, no such wisdom can be found in your posts. I hope you can still come across him in gym and give his some parting words.

You will be hard pressed to be find a more mediocre Test career that lasted over 8 years.

Thankfully PCB didn’t listen to you and didn’t appointed him as captain. That would have been a hilarious disaster.
 
There is wisdom only in your username. Unfortunately, no such wisdom can be found in your posts. I hope you can still come across him in gym and give his some parting words.

You will be hard pressed to be find a more mediocre Test career that lasted over 8 years.

Thankfully PCB didn’t listen to you and didn’t appointed him as captain. That would have been a hilarious disaster.
[MENTION=152972]Pacy with wisdom[/MENTION] defies all logic and wisdom in his posts.

No wonder he's the biggest supporter of Shan dads dream Masood.
 
Time to call it. I am a big fan of his and his career seemed to be on the rise especially after the South Africa tour, but recent performances are trash and he's on the wrong side of 30.

Time to develop a youngster starting with the home tests vs. SA
 
He nicked twice in the last Test so now he is wary of his off-stump.

So now he is getting pinned on his feet. Now Mr. hard work will focus on not getting LBW and then he will forget where his off-stump is and start nicking again.

And you know he actually did the same. In the second innings he nicked again.
 
[MENTION=152972]Pacy with wisdom[/MENTION] defies all logic and wisdom in his posts.

No wonder he's the biggest supporter of Shan dads dream Masood.

But then, aren't you one of the biggest Misbah fans?

I wonder which is more potent? Being Misbah fan or being Shan Masood's fan?
 
But then, aren't you one of the biggest Misbah fans?

I wonder which is more potent? Being Misbah fan or being Shan Masood's fan?

Comparing Pakistan's most successful Test captain and one of the best Test batters with Shan Masood?

Goes to show your cricketing acumen.

As for coaching, despite so new and yet to make his team, we haven't done any worse than the "experienced" Mickey "proud team, hate losing" Arthur, who not only lost all Tests overseas but also at our freaking home.
 
And you know he actually did the same. In the second innings he nicked again.

I have worked him lot better than international bowlers. Watch him get LBW in the next Test, if there is a next Test in his career.

He will now ‘work hard’ in the nets to leave balls outside off-stump, but then he will get surprised by an incoming delivery and pinned on his front pad.
 
I remember Alastair Cook having a similar torrid time against Pakistan in 2010 series. But even with that shoddy run against Pakistan, the guy averaged only 58.5 throughout the year. (This by no means is a comparison between one legend, and another ordinary cricketer like Cook)

His scores against Pakistan 8,12,17,4,6,110,10. But he lacks the consistency that Masood brought with his 1,0,0,0 runs in just one series
 
He should be dropped from the squad against south africa a shocking series for shan
 
my team for south africa would be.I will bat saud at 5 and i will have hassan oppening the bowling.

Azhar ali
Imaam ul haq
Kamran ghullam
Babar azam
Saud shakeel
Rizwan
Gohar
Sajid khan
Hassan ali
Fahim ashraf
Shaheen

Yasir
Sarfraz
Usman Salahuddin
Waqar maqsood/abbas
Fawad alam
 
Last edited:
No need to replace Shan with a domestic opener. Since all our top young batting prospects are middle order bats (Saud and Kamran mainly), Azhar can be a stopgap solution to opening while Omair, Haider, Zaryab, Shafique, Nawaz, Haq develop their game to take over in 1-2 years.

1. Azhar Ali
2. Abid Ali
3. Saud Shakeel
4. Babar Azam
5. Kamran Ghulam
6. Fawad Alam
7. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
8. Zafar Gohar
9. Hassan Ali
10. Sajid Khan / Yasir Shah
11. Shaheen Afridi

This should be our lineup against South Africa with a spinning track prepared.

do you think we should not be playing a 5 man attack? Is saud more suited to batting at 3 than kamran ghullam
 
That will be my team

1. Azhar Ali
2. Abid Ali/Imam (they can do handy 20, not more than that players)
3. Saud Shakeel (not sure his record but heard he is a good player )
4. Babar Azam
5. Kamran Ghulam
6. Fawad Alam
7. Mohammad Rizwan (wk)
8. Fahim/Abbas
9. Hassan Ali
10.Yasir Shah/Zafar/Tom/Dick/Harry
11. Shaheen Afridi

alot of people are including saud to bat at 3 i see him at 5 agsinst the older ball dont see him serviviing against the new ba
 
Hopefully there will be no version 3.0

The worst Test opener in history of Pakistan cricket.
 
Shan Masood asked to go back to NHPC

Haris, Abbas and Shan will be invited to the High Performance Centre in Lahore so that they can work on their technical faults with the qualified coaches. Zafar who made his Test Debut in Christchurch remains part of selectors long term plans in both red and white ball cricket, and will also work with NHPC coaches on further improvement of his all-round skillset.

attachment.php
 
Rightfully dropped.

Great player of his time, scored some of the finest 25s and 30s I’ve seen in years in test cricket - well since Hafeez at his peak in late 2000s era - but all the very best batsmen have to call it a day once age starts catching up with them.
 
Well time to re-assess his batting and technique, spend some time away from international cricket. He was mentally gone and that was not good for him or Pakistan cricket.

Who knows, maybe Shan Masood 3.0 might be a lot better.
 
Shan Masood asked to go back to NHPC

Haris, Abbas and Shan will be invited to the High Performance Centre in Lahore so that they can work on their technical faults with the qualified coaches. Zafar who made his Test Debut in Christchurch remains part of selectors long term plans in both red and white ball cricket, and will also work with NHPC coaches on further improvement of his all-round skillset.

attachment.php

Did PCB create these graphs and tables? If so that’s a huge step forward... finally basing selections on merit. Also professional.
 
Did PCB create these graphs and tables? If so that’s a huge step forward... finally basing selections on merit. Also professional.

I thinm muhammad wasim May have pushed for this we never have seen this before.
 
Hopefully there will be no version 3.0

The worst Test opener in history of Pakistan cricket.

Definitely glad Shan got dropped, but your comment about him being the worst got me thinking. Pakistan has had some pretty bad openers, just in the last 2 decades alone. Quick comparison:

Shan: 47 innings, average of 29, SR of 45, 4 centuries
Butt: 62 innings, average of 30, SR of 47, 3 centuries
Farhat: 77 innings (!!), average of 32, SR of 48, 3 centuries
Hameed: 49 innings, average of 32, SR of 57, 2 centuries
Aslam: 25 innings, average of 31, SR of 39, 0 centuries

Farhat for me is the worst, mostly because of the amount of time given to him. Amazing that he played 40 Tests

I expect if Abid continues for the next 1-2 years, he'll have an average in the low 30's as well.
 
Does he deserve a second chance? Or is he gone forever?
 
According to media reports, Shan Masood is in Cape Town from the past few days, where he is closely working with Kirsten in a bid to improve his technique and regain form with the bat.

After spending two weeks in Cape Town, Masood will return to Karachi next week.

Chief Selector Mohammad Wasim, during an interview, had said that there were some technical issues in Masood’s batting which led to the latter’s exclusion from the national side. However, Masood was not invited to the National High Performance Centre (NHPC) in Lahore to work on his game with coaches.
 
Could PSL 6 see the rise of Shan Masood again?
 
Shan Masood has broken my heart.

When I saw him hit 150 in England, it was one of the finest test knocks by an opener in England ever. I thought it was sign of great things to come. He was lefty and he seemed to have some batting class.

But he went KL Rahul on me ever since.

Why does it happen to me I don't know. I question my loyalty.
 
Could PSL 6 see the rise of Shan Masood again?

Dont trust him.

Shan has already failed on multiple come backs and therefore I would put my money on another failure.

Some players are just not cut for international cricket.
 
Could PSL 6 see the rise of Shan Masood again?

He has a place in the test team. Especially when you have a specialist fielder like Imran Butt occupying one of the opening slots and an underachiever like Abid Ali occupying the other slot.

But I wouldn't want him anywhere near the T20 team regardless of how he does in the PSL.
 
He has a place in the test team. Especially when you have a specialist fielder like Imran Butt occupying one of the opening slots and an underachiever like Abid Ali occupying the other slot.

But I wouldn't want him anywhere near the T20 team regardless of how he does in the PSL.
If we play New Zealand again next month in New Zealand, do you think he will show significant improvement? I mean obviously he cant do worse then scoring 3 ducks in a row but will he score a combined of 100 runs in 4 innings?
 
If we play New Zealand again next month in New Zealand, do you think he will show significant improvement? I mean obviously he cant do worse then scoring 3 ducks in a row but will he score a combined of 100 runs in 4 innings?

New Zealand is a tough place to tour. I believe Kohli averaged something like 7.50 the last time India toured not too long ago. Obviously that's not a justification for Shan who had an atrocious series. But I still feel he shouldn't have been axed because he gave a lot of good performances over the previous year. And when you are trying to find long-term guys you have to persist with them despite some failures.

We are not going to play New Zealand in New Zealand for quite some time. They are scheduled to tour us next year or end of this year. But if we were to tour them next month hypothetically, I personally think Shan would do better owing to his experience of having toured New Zealand once before.
 
Good on Shan for taking his chances. He has the power there's no doubt about that. Execution is not the greatest. However, he is making a strong case for a call-up.

However, we are heavily reliant on uncapped, overweight match winners as our saviours.
 
209 runs at a SR of 142 at the top in 7 games. I think his inclusion was a massive factor in MS victory.
He never gives in despite his limited talent. Absolutely love the guy and his attitude . . Another tweak in technique was evident after his work with Gary Kirsten in SA prior to the PSL.

Though he doesn't warrant a spot in LOIs, still believe he is a much better opener than both Abid and Imran Butt in tests. In the absence of better opening talent, wouldn't be surprised if he's back opening the batting again in tests.
 
He really had a decent last season or so of whiteball cricket and continuing same form in KPL. Unfortunately for him Pak's LOI top order is already congested with quite a few options.
 
Hate to say it . . but he's the best opening batsman in the country and definitely miles ahead of both Abid and Imran! and unfairly dropped after a series where our entire batting line up struggled . .

I'd have Shan and Imam open in the next match
 
Hate to say it . . but he's the best opening batsman in the country and definitely miles ahead of both Abid and Imran! and unfairly dropped after a series where our entire batting line up struggled . .

I'd have Shan and Imam open in the next match

Oh please.

Shan is a fraud.

Imam is a very limited ODI player who seems to have lost his mojo off late.
 
Hate to say it . . but he's the best opening batsman in the country and definitely miles ahead of both Abid and Imran! and unfairly dropped after a series where our entire batting line up struggled . .

I'd have Shan and Imam open in the next match

Even Shan Masood would have trouble believing you.😂
 
Hate to say it . . but he's the best opening batsman in the country and definitely miles ahead of both Abid and Imran! and unfairly dropped after a series where our entire batting line up struggled . .

Based upon what? He averages 34 in FC cricket and 29 in test cricket. Guys like Ahmed Shehzad and even Mohammad Hafeez average higher than him in test cricket while Sharjeel Khan averages higher in FC cricket by a big margin (Was best opener in QAE last season) along with Imran Rafique, Israrullah, Umer Amin and Omair Yousuf (Maybe a few others as well).

There is nothing in his FC stats or test stats to prove that. Better than Butt and Abid? Arguably based upon bit better application.
 
Based upon what? He averages 34 in FC cricket and 29 in test cricket. Guys like Ahmed Shehzad and even Mohammad Hafeez average higher than him in test cricket while Sharjeel Khan averages higher in FC cricket by a big margin (Was best opener in QAE last season) along with Imran Rafique, Israrullah, Umer Amin and Omair Yousuf (Maybe a few others as well).

There is nothing in his FC stats or test stats to prove that. Better than Butt and Abid? Arguably based upon bit better application.

The funny thing is that he was brought back into the test team based on his List A season
 
Oh please.

Shan is a fraud.

Imam is a very limited ODI player who seems to have lost his mojo off late.

Even Shan Masood would have trouble believing you.��

Based upon what? He averages 34 in FC cricket and 29 in test cricket. Guys like Ahmed Shehzad and even Mohammad Hafeez average higher than him in test cricket while Sharjeel Khan averages higher in FC cricket by a big margin (Was best opener in QAE last season) along with Imran Rafique, Israrullah, Umer Amin and Omair Yousuf (Maybe a few others as well).

There is nothing in his FC stats or test stats to prove that. Better than Butt and Abid? Arguably based upon bit better application.

A few reasons:
1) I choose to ignore his foray from 2013 to the time he made his comeback in South Africa . . they were 2 different players . . Remember comments from English commentators in England when he first went there and the last series . . For some with very limited talent he worked really hard and the improvements were quite visible . .
Hence, I think it is a misrepresentation of Shan's career to look at his test average of 29

2) Since his comeback in South Africa, he was Pakistan's 2nd most prolific batsman, and had the 2nd highest number of centuries . . See table below:

Capture.jpg

3) He was dropped on the basis of poor performances . . but you can't look at his performances in a vacuum. His peers weren't exactly setting the world on fire in NZ either . .

4) I don't for a moment believe that Shan is a world beater . . quite the opposite actually. I think he is a player with very limited talent . . however, when I look at the openers currently . . there's no doubt in my mind, Shan is better . . when I look at domestics, there's no opener that's knocking on the door . . Abdullah Shafique has only played a handful of first class games and he's going around with the squad . . might as well be playing back home so he starts getting innings and runs under his belt . . so in the absence of anyone else, Shan is the best available option . . and he got dropped right before Pak played in Pakistan where he had 3 centuries in a row or something? Abid and Imran botched that too!

Bonus point 5) He works incredibly hard which is evident . . he is one of the fittest cricketers if not the fittest in Pakistan . . not many know, but after he was dropped from the team after NZ, he went to SA to work with Gary Kirsten on his technique . .

All in all, I am happy with Shan's mediocrity over Abid and Imran Butt's mediocrity if I can put it that way . .

We can agree to disagree on this one . . :)
 
Please let’s not go back to Shan. He’s not a Test level batsman. How many times does he need to get picked and fail and dropped for us to see this.
 
Not again!!! He had his chance he has to do something spectular to get back in...... Good player but not international class
 
Back
Top