Shan Masood was the leading performer for Derbyshire this year. The southpaw was on a brilliant run-spree as he became the first player to reach the milestone of getting to the 1,000-run mark in the County Championship 2022. In the Vitality Blast T20 competition, he spearheaded Derbyshire to the Quarter Finals and we witnessed an evolved version of Shan Masood who batted with bravado and wasn't afraid of taking risks.
Even though he hogged the limelight with his stellar run in the English domestic circuit, Shan couldn't get the nod from the selection committee. But as time went by, it became difficult to ignore Shan and he is in the team now which is currently taking on England in the seven-match T20I series and is selected in the next month's T20 World Cup squad as well.
Shan Masood tried to keep Pakistan in the hunt during the third T20I with a gritty 65-run-knock but he kept losing partners from the other end. Against a charged-up bowling attack comprising Mark Wood, who made a stellar comeback after injury, and Reece Topley, who was on the top of his game, Pakistan were simply outsmarted yesterday.
My aim is to play according to the match situation and back my strengths - Shan Masood
Masood and Khushdil Shah added 62 for the fifth wicket but the asking rate kept spiking as England applied the stranglehold. Masood's knock was laced with three fours and four sixes. He said the goal of the team is to get their combination right and experiment, and not worry so much about the result.
"Series like this before World Cup, we know that World Cup will be held in different conditions. In this kind of a series, you can try different things, try line-ups," said Shan Masood in post-match chat.
"You can chase 200 by playing good cricket and I think the extra 20-25 runs they scored, there was always going to be pressure on us and the way they bowled, I mean we should give credit to good bowling. Mark Wood was making his comeback and he produced top-quality bowling. Reece Topley dismissed (Mohammad) Rizwan. When you score that many runs, you can afford to attack which they did and they got rewarded for that which is why we lagged. Sometimes, we have to give credit to the opposition," said Shan Masood.