Report: Abdul Majid Bhatti. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to retain Shan Masood as the captain of the Test team, while former captain Sarfraz Ahmed will take over as the head coach.
The Pakistan Cricket Board will officially announce the captain and head coach after announcing the schedule for the series with Bangladesh.
According to the sources, Sarferaz Ahmed will be the head of the country for the first time instead of Azhar Mehmud, at the same time he is also the national elector and Shan Masoud has already received the leadership duties. The Pakistani team will probably play three Test series against Bangladesh, West Indies and England.
In October, Pakistan played the last Test series against South Africa, which was tied 1-1.
According to the sources, by taking San Masud as captain, the unity policy will be continued. Currently, the white ball captain is New Zealand’s Mike Hesson and the ODI captain is Shaheen Shah Afridi and the T20 captain is Salman Ali Agha.
Under the leadership of Sarfraz Ahmed, there is currently a red ball camp at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Lahore, which includes coaches from the National Academy.
21-year-old opener Azan Owais has had an outstanding performance in domestic red-ball cricket, Azan Owais has topped the batting charts by scoring 844 runs for Sialkot Region in the 2024-25 season. Azan Owais scored four centuries and two fifties in his first first-class season (Quaid-e-Azam Trophy).
Sialkot won the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy title thanks to the performance of Azaan Owais. Azaan Owais scored 578 runs in the First Class of the Presidency Trophy. In the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2025-26, Azaan Owais scored 803 runs and led the team to the final. Azaan Owais scored 448 runs while representing SNGPL.
Azaan Wais says that the NCA Red Ball Camp is an opportunity to learn a lot, the last two seasons have been very important for my first class career, the England tour was tough but very useful for learning.
He said that playing in different conditions has boosted my confidence, my aim is to represent Pakistan in all the three formats while representing Pakistan in Test cricket is my special aim.
