Pakistan went down to the West Indies in the second and final Test in Multan by 120 runs. This was their first loss in the last four Test matches but ninth in Shan Masood's captaincy in 12 attempts. Masood lost his first eight Test matches as captain before winning three on the bounce and going down today in Multan against the Caribbean side.
His record is visibly poor with only 25% wins as captain and expectedly questions were raised about his leadership ability in the post-match press conference. One of the journalists asked him whether he would step down as Test captain on his own or would be waiting for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to axe him. Masood wasn't pleased one bit with the question and at first, decided to ignore it. But when insisted on by the same journalist, he fumed in anger stating that the media shouldn't disrespect the players as they are playing for the country.
"You have your opinion and I respect that but there is a lot of disrespect in your question. You can't show disrespect to players, me and the others. We all play for Pakistan and get results but no one will tolerate such disrespect. You have to understand that. You want to put someone down fine but we all are Pakistan players," Masood said.
Masood reiterated the fact that the management is trying something different by producing turning pitches and one should appreciate the effort. "You have to understand and appreciate that we are trying to do something different and you must study that. Anyone can google something but we are trying to do something and we have won three out of the last four Tests at home" Masood added.
Pakistan will now next prepare for the ICC Champions Trophy at home and are scheduled to participate in the tri-series involving South Africa and New Zealand ahead of the showpiece event.