Pakistan captain Shan Masood stated that he has seen no signs of a lack of unity from his side during his tenure as captain, saying Pakistan needed to avoid the temptation of chopping and changing regularly. In a press conference ahead of the start of Pakistan's three-match Test series against England at home, Masood also backed Babar Azam to come good, calling him "among the world's best batters".
"Every captain has their own style," Masood said. "I focus on keeping the environment in the dressing room well; that is my primary concern. I have never seen a lack of unity or effort by the boys. There are some cricketing aspects to how we need to improve, but I have no complaints regarding unity."
Masood is hoping to overcome a horror start to his time as captain, with Pakistan following up a 3-0 series defeat in Australia with a home series against Bangladesh that saw the visitors win both Test matches. It has coincided with difficult runs of form for several players, not least Masood himself, who's scored 286 runs in ten innings during this period, or Babar, who has managed 190.
Masood said players in the longer formats had earned the right to get more time. "Babar Azam is among the world's best batters. You have to give your players time, not just Babar Azam. Babar doesn't look out of form, he's getting starts," Masood said. "There was a 10-month gap between the Australia and Bangladesh Tests, which doesn't help us. He played some long innings in the Champions [One-Day] Cup where he absorbed pressure and changed gears. That might help him in Tests now. He's the team's number one batter for sure.
"We have to give players a consistent chance and if and when we get Kamran Ghulam in the side, he should also get a long run instead of chopping and changing. We want to consistently back our players, and whoever comes in shouldn't feel their spot is under threat from the first day."
Masood also defended Abdullah Shafique, who has endured a difficult couple of years in the national side, drawing from his own personal experiences to argue against dropping struggling players too quickly.
"Saim [Ayub] scored two 50s in the last two Tests, if we'd dropped him after the first Test, I've had that happen to me; it's not nice," he said. "When I was out of the team for two years, I averaged over 60 in List A cricket, but Imam [ul-Haq-] and Fakhar [Zaman] were consistently performing. I didn't complain that I wasn't being selected, because I understood the level of competition was high. If the coach was backing the players, they were doing the right thing.
"If I've backed a player who ends up becoming a great servant for Pakistan cricket, and he ends up replacing me in the process, I won't be upset. If I'm backing the right thing, I'll sleep well at night."
Perhaps the brightest spark for Pakistan in what has been a challenging few months is the form of Mohammad Hasnain in the One-Day Cup. The 24-year-old recently overcame a long-term ankle injury to finish as the player of the tournament, taking 17 wickets - seven more than any other bowler. Crucially, his pace appeared undimmed from his pre-injury days, with his performances also attracting the attention of the Pakistan Test captain.
"Hasnain was bowling really well and [was] a personal standout for me," Masood said. "If I'm selecting a team, my question to him would be you're bowling really well, how well can you do in red-ball cricket?' We should appreciate the skill of fast bowling in Test cricket. It's the hardest skill and you need to be super fit to execute it so we should appreciate it.
"Fast bowling exerts a huge amount of stress on the body, and wherever I've played Test cricket, fast bowlers' workload is always managed. Injuries with fast bowlers are common so you have to continue building stocks of fast bowlers. Personally, what I've said to fast bowlers is they'll play a huge role in taking 20 wickets. So we've set certain standards and protocols so our fast bowlers are the fittest players in our team. That's the only way they'll be able to bowl effective third and fourth spells, so that's the standard we're looking to set."