The Pakistan Cricket Board has taken an unusual route, naming current Test captain Shan Masood as “Consultant for International Cricket and Player Affairs”. The job – only vaguely defined for now – appears to be a stop-gap before the wider role of Director International Cricket is filled. Applications for that position close on 2 November, yet the board has hinted Masood may eventually slip straight into the seat.
Nothing in Friday’s brief release says whether the left-hander will keep hold of the Test captaincy, step away from playing altogether, or try to juggle the two. For the moment, he remains skipper – fresh from a 1-1 home draw with South Africa in which he topped Pakistan’s run-scorers.
A dinner hosted by the Prime Minister for the tourists on Thursday night was, according to several players present, the first they heard of the captain’s new hat. One senior squad member, speaking on background, called the announcement “left-field but very PCB”.
The administrative vacancy opened when Usman Wahla, Director International Cricket since May 2023, was suspended in September. The board has offered no clarity on Wahla’s status since, and Friday’s statement did little to close the information gap. It did, however, confirm Masood will “liaise with member boards and provide first-hand insight on player welfare”. Beyond that, responsibilities, contract length and pay packet remain anyone’s guess.
Masood’s on-field record is mixed: four wins, ten defeats and one series victory – over England last winter. The low point, undeniably, was becoming the first Pakistan captain to lose a series to Bangladesh. Pakistan also finished bottom of the last World Test Championship cycle. With numbers like those, naysayers have often questioned his leadership; the new appointment adds a fresh layer of scrutiny.
Former selector and television analyst Bazid Khan told local media: “You rarely see an active international cricketer step straight into an administrative corridor. It’s bold, but the conflict-of-interest alarms will ring loudly.” By contrast, a PCB official insisted the move is “temporary and purely advisory”.
Balancing selection meetings, fitness work and long hours in Gaddafi Stadium’s offices will not be straightforward. From a distance, it feels almost experimental, yet such experiments are hardly new in Pakistani cricket politics.
The national side’s immediate schedule is light – two-Test series against Bangladesh and West Indies next year before an August 2026 trip to England. That gap offers Masood some breathing space to test-drive the desk job. Whether he walks into the long-term director’s chair, hands over the Test reins, or does something in between, will likely be revealed – in typical PCB fashion – only when the ink is already dry.
For now, Pakistan’s captain finds himself in the curious position of helping run the game he is still expected to lead from the front.
