Leicestershire Foxes’ squad boosted by Shan Masood’s inclusion, says captain

LEICESTER: Pakistan test team captain Shan Masood is set to make his Leicestershire Foxes debut in this year’s T20 Blast as they host Derbyshire Falcons in their opening match of the tournament at Upton Steel Ground in Leicester.

The southpaw who was repeating Karachi Kings in the recently concluded Pakistan Super League has joined the Foxes squad earlier this week and has been practising hard in the nets ahead of the Foxes’ opening clash against his old club Derbyshire. 

Louis Kimber, the captain of Leicestershire, is super excited to welcome the experienced fellow to the squad.

“Shan landed on Monday. It’s been great welcoming him into the group, he’s already fitted in really well. You can see his class and his skill set in the nets just watching him bat”, said Louis Kimber.

Masood, now 35, has been a regular in the County Championship and T20 Blast in recent years and is set to represent Leicestershire County Cricket Club across all three formats this year.

He enjoyed a spectacular debut season with Derbyshire in 2022, scoring 1,832 runs across 28 matches, which helped earn him a recall to the Pakistan national squad.

He subsequently joined Yorkshire in 2023 for the next two seasons, where he led the team back to Division One last year. He ended up scoring 720 runs in 2023, followed by 520 runs in 2024.

In their opening clash in the T20 Blast, Leicestershire won’t be able to have the services of key players Rehan Ahmed and Josh Hull in their squad as both have been named in England Lion’s squad against India-A for the two unofficial test match series. In their absence, skipper Kimber is banking heavily on Shan’s experience and skill set.

“It’s gonna be great to kind of learn off him, and watch him go about his business and hopefully, score some runs for Leicestershire. There could be a lot of batting together with him”.

“Really excited to get going on Friday. We just finished our last training day. So, all the lads and I are aiming to go. There’s a great positive vibe within the camp at the moment”, Louis added further.

Shan Masood has featured in 42 test matches for Pakistan, scoring 2,380 runs, which includes 6 centuries and 11 half-centuries. He’s also played 9 One Day Intentionals and 19 T20Is for Pakistan. In November 2023, Shan Masood was named captain of the Pakistan men’s test team for two years. With no Test matches scheduled for Pakistan in the next few months, he is expected to stay with Leicestershire till the end of the county season.