Shan Masood during Pakistan vs Australia 1st Test pre-game presser:
“Look, as a team, we talk about adaptability. Whether we play in Canberra, Karachi, or Perth, how quickly can guys adapt to the conditions, is more important to me. Good cricketers are always adaptable; they adapt very quickly to the conditions, and it will be the same because when we talk about these three venues Perth, MCG, and SCG, all of them are different, and a challenge for our guys would be to adapt as quickly as possible.”
“I think it is best to look at the bigger picture as a side Look at the process, look at how we want to play cricket, and take results as a byproduct. If you play good cricket for 5 days consistently, I am sure we will be on the right end of certain results. So for us right now, how do we grow as a side? How do we go forward as a side? And if we do the right things for a long time, we will be on the right side.”
“The beauty of this game is that you get to do something different, and that is what we want to do as a side. We want to go forward as a side and play attractive Test cricket. If the results come away, yes; if they don't, then we will go back to the drawing board and try to rectify our mistakes. I see a lot of potential in this side, a lot of players that can take Pakistan forward, and again, for us, it is about the bigger picture, playing good cricket, and making sure we can compete against the best, and this is the perfect opportunity to do so.”
“It would mean the world to the US, and like we said when you talk about the bigger picture, this is the World Test Championship, so every test match, every single point counts, and it's a 2-year cycle, so we got a lot of test matches to play as well, so Australia is a perfect place to start and a perfect place to gauge where we are as a team and take it from there.”
“I think as a test side, in terms of personnel, we have been pretty much the same, so it's the same group of players and some additions here or there, so I think the philosophy of the guys is going to be the same, and again, it's a perfect opportunity to try and play a decent brand of cricket against the best of the world, and we are really looking forward to this exciting challenge.”
“Again, you can't be too pushy; you have to take every step in your stride, and you have to take it step by step. Be patient with your players, and with your management, and find the best way forward for the team. Right now, as a team, we can look at the bigger picture and keep making those improvements.”
“I think this is one of the hardest decisions to make. They have both been top-class wicketkeepers for Pakistan over the years. They have played some memorable innings as a batter and had some great performances behind the wicket as a wicketkeeper, so it is a very tough decision to make, and like I said, possibility will always be open. I do not jump to comparisons between the players. I think each and every one of our 18-member squad is somebody that can take the field tomorrow, and in this series, there will be some tough decisions to make, which hopefully we can make the best one in terms of the interest of the team and the result.”
“We all love playing test cricket, it is the ultimate, it is the pinnacle. As I said we don't need any more motivation in terms of the series we are playing in Australia, we are playing against the world test champions but Test cricket for us as a nation has taken a bit of a hit because normally we play 6 test matches are year, if you count these two test matches it will be 5 test matches for this year so it is not enough. We obviously like more test cricket and I think by being a side that is winning side that produces results at home and overseas, we might sort of get more test matches in the future so for us, we want to play more test cricket. We want to play against the best teams in the world and we want to play an exciting brand of test cricket.”
“We have been very fortunate to play at this amazing venue in 2019. We played a pink ball day and night test match. Pink Ball obviously behaves a bit differently; there was a nice carry and some pace in The Wicket. A lot of our guys got runs it was a three-day first-class match against and decent Australia A team, and we got them out of fairly cheap in the first innings but the match went down to a draw. Then we play two T20 games where you have to go from the word go and getting used to the face and bounce can be a bit challenging but I don't see anything different from those two occasions that we have been here and it will offer some pace and bounce and a decent amount of grass coating. We have also looked at the test match between Australia and West Indies again it is about how can we adopt to these conditions and how do we sort of respond as a batting and bowling side.”
