Pakistan Captain Told He Is 'Not Leading From The Front'. Here's The Reply
Pakistan will start a new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle with a two-Test series against South Africa at home from Sunday. Pakistan, which finished last in the previous WTC cycle, won three of its last four home Test matches on spin wickets made with the help of industrial-sized fans, heaters, and wind breakers. The home team didn't use any of those while preparing the wicket for the first Test at Gaddafi Stadium, but spinners are still expected to play a factor on a grassless 22-yard strip.
At the pre-match press conference, Pakistan captain Shan Masood was told by a reporter that he was not leading from the front.
"Aapki apni performance ko leke kaafi baat ho rahi hai ki captain lead from the front karte hain lekin humare Test captain lead from the front nahi kar rahe. Uske baare mein bata dein (There is a lot of chatter about your own performance. The talk is that our captain is not leading from the front. Please tell us about it)," the reporter asked.
Masood replied: "If you give me the numbers, then I will answer this question. We are just repeating one thing. We are playing in such conditions where our priority is to take 20 wickets. We don't want to play on wickets where Tests are drawn. To excel in WTC, you must win matches. We need to lower our expectations when it comes to cumulative averages. If you look at the WTC cycle for the last period, I am among the top run-scorers for Pakistan. Unfortunately, the results haven't come, and we consider it a cumulative failure."
Pakistan players go into the first Test with little experience of red-ball cricket since they lost to the West Indies in Multan in late January and drew the series 1-1. Premier batter Babar Azam and fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, who hasn't played a Test match for a year, haven't played a first-class game over the last nine months.
With AP inputs
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