{"id":6316,"date":"2026-07-05T08:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6316"},"modified":"2026-07-05T08:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:08:14","slug":"babar-azam-replaces-shan-masood-as-pakistan-test-captain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6316","title":{"rendered":"Babar Azam replaces Shan Masood as Pakistan test captain"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
FILE – Pakistan\u2019s cricket team skipper Babar Azam speaks during a press conference regarding up coming Twenty20 series against Ireland, England and T20 World Cup, in Lahore, Pakistan, on May 6, 2024. (AP Photo\/K.M. Chaudary, File)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

ISLAMABAD \u2014 Babar Azam has returned to lead Pakistan\u2019s test cricket<\/a> team after Shan Masood was axed from the role on Sunday.<\/p>

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Masood\u2019s firing seemed inevitable after the team fell to 12 defeats in 16 matches during his tenure, which began when he initially replaced Babar in late 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to look for a captain who could lead the team in a much better way,\u201d selector Aaqib Javed told reporters in Lahore. \u201cShan\u2019s individual performance was good but as captain we weren\u2019t getting the desired results.\u201d<\/p>\n

Javed said the selection committee was unanimous in recommending Babar as captain and no other player came up in the discussion.<\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s results in test matches took a sharp decline since Masood lost 3-0 to Australia in his first series. Pakistan also lost 2-0 to Bangladesh at home for the first time and the only series win under Masood\u2019s captaincy came against England at home when Pakistan won 2-1<\/a> as eventually Pakistan finished at bottom of the last World Test Championship points table.<\/p>\n

Javed pointed out several shortcomings of the Pakistan team in test matches under Masood\u2019s leadership that included losses against South Africa<\/a> and the West Indies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe captain has a responsibility of finishing the games,\u201d Javed said. \u201cSome things are the responsibility of the team, some are the responsibility of the selectors, and some are the responsibility of the captain. The captain\u2019s responsibility also includes maintaining the team\u2019s over rate, taking DRS decisions and making the right call at the toss.\u201d<\/p>

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Masood had a fair time with the bat during his captaincy as he scored two centuries and seven half centuries, including back-to-back fifties at Melbourne against Australia.<\/p>\n

Babar had led Pakistan to 10 wins in 20 tests before Masood was handed the captaincy. Babar\u2019s tenure as skipper started with a 2-0 home win over South Africa and Pakistan also went on to clean sweep Bangladesh and Sri Lanka away from home.<\/p>\n

As captain, Babar averaged over 50 runs per innings in test cricket and his only blemish came against England when Pakistan lost 3-0 at home.<\/p>\n

Babar\u2019s second stint as skipper starts with two-test series in West Indies later this month for which Pakistan named Masood as one of the 16 players. After the West Indies series, Pakistan will play three test matches in England for which Saud Shakeel will be added as a 17th player, subject to fitness.<\/p>\n

Left-arm spinner Ali Usman, right-handed batter Awais Zafar, right-arm fast bowler Ubaid Shah and wicketkeeper batter Ghazi Ghori are the uncapped players in the squad.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Squad:<\/p>\n

Babar Azam (captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Azan Awais, Imamul Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Awais Zafar, Ghazi Ghori, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Shan Masood, Ubaid Shah.<\/p>

Read more For France, a sticky win over Paraguay was too close for comfort<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP cricket: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/cricket<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pakistan axed Shan Masood as test captain and named Babar Azam as skipper of red-ball cricket for the second time in his career on Sunday<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nBabar Azam replaces Shan Masood as Pakistan test captain - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6316\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Babar Azam replaces Shan Masood as Pakistan test captain - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pakistan axed Shan Masood as test captain and named Babar Azam as skipper of red-ball cricket for the second time in his career on Sunday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=6316\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-05T08:08:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ccd2da3fff08192c04e25eff9117420f-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6316#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6316\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Babar Azam replaces Shan Masood as Pakistan test captain\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-05T08:08:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6316\"},\"wordCount\":557,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6316#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/46495b9155eb0967b9bc82c017c5ad01-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6316#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6316\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=6316\",\"name\":\"Babar Azam replaces Shan Masood as Pakistan test captain - 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