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In an effort to prepare his team for an uncommon season of Test cricket bonanza, Pakistan’s Test captain, Shan Masood, has urged his countrymen to participate in more Test matches.
Pakistan’s home season will out on August 21 with a two-Test series against Bangladesh, which will take place at Rawalpindi. They play a two-Test series in South Africa in between hosting five more Tests at home, first against England and then the West Indies. The last time Pakistan played more Tests in a season was more than 25 years ago, in the 1998–1999 season, when they played ten matches. This shows how uncommon this is.
The length of the intervals between Tests has impeded any possibility of advancement more than their quantity. Pakistan will be playing its first Tests against Bangladesh since this year’s New Year’s Test in Sydney. They have no Test matches planned until South Africa visits in October after the West Indies series concludes in January 2025 (and then none until a series against Bangladesh in March 2026).
Masood contended that a gulf has grown between the big three countries of India, Australia, and England and other Full Members as a result of the irregular, stop-start schedule. Similar pleas were made by Kraigg Brathwaite following the West Indies’ 3-0 series defeat by England last month.
“We need more Test cricket,” Masood said on the PCB podcast, in which he was interviewed alongside Test coach Jason Gillespie, by former cricketer and broadcaster Bazid Khan. “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. That comes down to scheduling, reducing the gaps, and ensuring we have consistent Test squads going forward. 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. These are challenges that Pakistan cricket needs to address going forward.”
Masood noted that there is evidence that Pakistan has performed very well while playing in more difficult environments and relieving themselves of its fast bowlers; nonetheless, Gillespie stated that the team is still in the early stages of defining and committing to an identity.
“I think the identity will sort itself out. In this next period of time, seven Test matches out of nine are in Pakistan, which is fantastic,” Gillespie said. “I echo Shan’s sentiments – it would be great to play more Test cricket. The PCB is exploring ways to have more Shaheens (Pakistan A) games and four-day cricket to bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket. As for identity and playing in Pakistan, there are varying surfaces and conditions depending on whether you’re in the north or south of the country. I don’t think that will be resolved right now. It will be a process to figure out exactly what surfaces we want to play on going forward.