Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood has asked for more red-ball cricket for the national team to improve their fortunes in the format. The left-handed batter also added that they must identify and implement a style of play for home Test matches, having produced poor results earlier as well. However, Pakistan will begin a home Test on August 21 when they host Bangladesh for a two-match series. After Bangladesh, they will host England for three Tests, followed by another series against the West Indies as well.

Speaking on the PCB podcast, Masood stated as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo, “We need more Test cricket. We play a lot of domestic cricket, so I don’t think we can blame that. We do play ten first-class matches minimum, and with the introduction of departmental cricket, some players ended up playing 16-17 first-class matches in a year. For me, it’s more about how we can get our team to play more Test matches. We’re playing nine Test matches in four months, but we’ve also had to deal with an unfortunate calendar where we played in Australia, and then we’re playing our next Test after ten months.”

The batter also said that it’s unfortunate that the men’s team last played a Test in January. Pakistan had a forgettable time in 2022-23, losing to England 3-0 and drawing the two-match Test series against New Zealand.

“I know there’s been a lot of media discussion recently about some decisions made by the PCB on player availability. Shan touched on it – there are nine Test matches in the next four months. We’ve got multi-format players, and we’ve got to look after them as best we can. The priority is representing Pakistan, but if there are opportunities -on a case-by-case basis – where a player can learn about their game and play better cricket, which in turn will help them be a better cricketer for Pakistan, then we’ll certainly consider those opportunities. But we won’t be in a position where we compromise the team, whichever format,” Shan Masood concluded.