Pakistan Cricket’s Strange Turn: Captain Shan Masood, Coach Will Not Have Final Say On Team: Report

Pakistan captain Shan Masood and head coach Jason Gillespie will no longer have final say in selection of the team or the playing eleven after the nation’s cricket board (PCB) new selectors have cut down their powers, according to a source. A reliable source in the PCB told PTI that the role of the captain and head coach had been changed with neither of them having final say in selection matters or even finalising the playing eleven. “The playing eleven for the second Test (against England) has been finalised after consulting Shan and Gillispie but like until the first Test they no longer have final say in the selection of the playing eleven,” the source said.

Masood and Gillispie were inducted on the national selection committee as voting members with white ball head coach Gary Kirsten in August, but apparently the source said things have changed now.

“It appears after the first Test defeat in Multan the PCB chairman, Mohsin Naqvi decided to give complete authority to the revamped national selection committee which now includes Aaqib Javed, Aleem Dar, Azhar Ali, analyst Hasan Cheema and old member, Asad Shafiq.

“The surprising thing is that the selectors are in Multan and have been in charge of talking to the ground staff about the pitch for the second Test and even have final authority on what sort of strategy would be adopted for the match,” the source said.

The source noted that such behind the scenes overnight power changes are not uncommon in Pakistan cricket and its takes little time to press the panic button and demote someone.

The new selectors have also dropped premier batsman Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Sarfaraz Ahmed for the remaining two Tests against England.

Shaheen and Naseem, however, had informed the selectors on Sunday morning that they had slight niggles and wanted to withdraw for the second Test.

The source said the changes in authority have come about after Naqvi met with the mentors of the domestic teams and new selectors on Saturday, including Aqib Javed, Azhar Ali, Aleem Dar, Hasan Cheema, and advisor Bilal Afzal.

Domestic cricket director Abdullah Khurram Niazi and high-performance director Nadeem Khan along with mentors Shoaib Malik, Misbah-ul-Haq, Waqar Younis, and Saqlain Mushtaq attended in person with Sarfaraz Ahmed and old selector Asad Shafiq joining via video link.