Pakistan Test coach Sarfaraz Ahmed backed Shan Masood to continue contributing to the team in his capacity as player. Ahead of what will be Masood's first series without the armband after leading Pakistan for almost three years, his coach praised Masood's "excellent" attitude.
"I spoke to Shan Masood and his confidence and spirits are high," Sarfaraz said after a training session on the eve of Pakistan's departure for the West Indies to play a warm-up game and two Tests. "He prepared well but had a slight hamstring niggle. But his attitude was excellent. Shan is a senior player and a very sensible one. He understands how to get through this. The way he contributed as captain, he will now contribute as player too."
While Masood's stint as Pakistan captain was ultimately disappointing, it coincided with a sustained uptick in his personal form, leaving him more assured of a place in the side than at perhaps any point in his stop-start career. That form and experience in the top order will be especially useful for Pakistan over the summer in West Indies and England, especially with the former Pakistan captain flanked by Azan Awais and Abdullah Fazal, who have only played two Tests each.
But Sarfaraz, and Pakistan, are making sure that for all their problems, being undercooked is not one of them. "Our preparation is excellent. We had a one-month camp in Lahore before giving the boys about four to five days off. After that, we had a 3-day camp in here [in Rawalpindi] again. The humidity over there is kind of the same as it is here. The weather will be warm, and that's what we're preparing for, so we expect good results."
Pakistan also have the rare luxury of a four-day tour game in Trinidad ahead of the Tests, both of which will also take place on the same island. "We've built our team looking at conditions in West Indies," Sarfaraz said. "We've prepared with that in mind. We prepared some pitches with grass on, and some spin tracks. We practiced on both. We have a practice match in Port-of-Spain where both our Tests are [in Tarouba and then at Queen's Park Oval]. We expect to get used to the weather."
Sarfaraz acknowledged recent results had been disappointing. Pakistan have lost 12 of their last 16 Tests, including the two most recent ones against Bangladesh in May. That was the first series Sarfaraz oversaw as head coach, and ultimately the last one before the PCB opted for a captaincy change. In doing so, they returned to Babar Azam, the man from whom Masood took the armband in 2023.
"I want to congratulate Babar Azam on being appointed captain," Sarfaraz, who captained Babar as well as playing under his leadership, said. "He has the experience, and has captained Pakistan before.
"Our recent series have not yielded good results. It's a very challenging time. But we've worked very hard in the past month. We spoke to them one-on-one to explain to them what we expected of them. We hope the things we've worked with them on in this heat and the hard work we've done will yield results. We're targeting a series win."