Salman Butt, a former top-order batsman for Pakistan, has suggested that Shan Masood should take over as the skipper of the Pakistan men’s cricket team in all formats, instead of Babar Azam. Butt made this suggestion after Pakistan did not make it to the Super 8s in the T20 World Cup 2024 in October.
Butt did not choose other well-known players like Shaheen Shah Afridi, a fast bowler and former T20I captain, Mohammad Rizwan, a wicketkeeper-batsman, or Shadab Khan, the former T20I vice-captain. Instead, he believes in 34-year-old Masood. Butt shared his thoughts on his YouTube channel, worrying about the current leaders’ approach and their inability to use their skills effectively.
“There’s been a lot of confusion, which means even though the players are talented, they haven’t been able to perform well. There’s a person who doesn’t plan much but has a big ego. To calm that ego, I would definitely choose Shan Masood as the captain,” Butt said.
Shan Masood became the captain of Pakistan’s Test team after Babar Azam decided to leave the position following the team’s early exit from the 2023 ODI World Cup. Babar was then made the captain for shorter matches again before the 2024 T20 World Cup, but this choice didn’t bring the expected success.
Shan Masood, who is now skipper of Pakistan’s Test team, also leads Yorkshire in the County Championship and Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Babar Azam gave up his captaincy role in all formats after a disappointing performance in the ODI World Cup. Shaheen Afridi took over as captain for T20 matches but was replaced after losing a series in New Zealand.
Mohsin Naqvi, who became the head of the Pakistan Cricket Board, put Babar back in charge of the team for limited-overs matches. But since Pakistan didn’t do well in the 2024 T20 World Cup, losing to the USA and India, there’s more talk about finding a new captain.
Naqvi wants to talk to the coach for limited-overs matches, Gary Kirsten, and some past players before making a choice. Other possible captains for the team could be Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan. Babar’s performance in the T20 World Cup wasn’t great, scoring 122 runs in 4 games with an average of 40.66, but his strike rate of 101.66 was low, which upset some experts.
