A person who was born in Kuwait but chose to represent the nation of his ancestry, Pakistan, Shan Masood is an opening left-handed batsman who has been performing very well of late. After making his international debut in 2013 he has been in and out of the Pakistan squad with sporadic appearances here and there.
Masood made his first-class debut in 2007 playing for Hyderabad (Pakistan) against Karachi Whites. Shan made it to the international stage in 2013 after excellent performances at the domestic and junior level. With Pakistan struggling to find good openers during that period, Masood was given the opportunity to impress when he made his Test debut against South Africa in October 2013. In his very first innings he played a solid innings of 75 and helped Pakistan win the match convincingly.
However, after that he got just 3 more opportunities to play for his nation until July 2015. He was selected for Pakistan's tour of Sri Lanka in 2015 and at Pallekele he scored his maiden Test century. In this innings he showed brilliant application and helped his nation to another victory by forming a 242-run stand with Younis Khan. After this performance he was given more opportunities but failed to capitalize on them. The main problem with him was his inability to convert starts into big scores.
Masood was not preferred in the ODI format but he finally made his ODI debut during Pakistan and Australia's tour of the UAE in 2019. Masood managed to score just a single half-century in the series, that too in the last match. Pakistan were whitewashed at the hands of the Aussies and since then Masood has not featured in the ODI format. However, he was picked for the Test matches more often and he repaid the faith shown in him by scoring his 2nd Test century against Sri Lanka at Karachi in December 2019, helping his nation win the 2-match Test series.
He scored another ton in his next match against Bangladesh at Rawalpindi in February 2020, helping Pakistan achieve an innings victory over the Bangla Tigers. Masood was also named in the Pakistan squad to tour England in June 2020 and he impressed everyone with his performance in the first Test at Old Trafford, where he scored a century to become the first Pakistan opener since Saeed Anwar in 1996 to do so. Shan appears to be coming of age.
