KARACHI: Pakistan Test opener Shan Masood considers himself and his teammates very fortunate for being able to play Test cricket amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has thrown the world into disarray.
The 30-year-old Masood scored an unbeaten 46 on the rain-hit opening day of the first Test against England and featured in a steady partnership with Babar Azam (69 batting) before play was abandoned due to rain at Manchester.
"We consider ourselves very fortunate that even during these sad times, amid this pandemic, we have actually got to play the game we all love. There is no better thing than to play for your country," he said at the end of day's play.
"We have been practising for the last one month but playing international cricket is always different. There was a little rustiness among the players because we haven't played for three months," he added. Masood praised Azam saying he has always enjoyed batting with him.
"I've always enjoyed batting with Babar Azam and there's no doubt that it's a good thing for Pakistan that we have a batsman in our side who ranks among the top batsmen in the world, in all three formats," he said.
Masod said it was not easy to play amid rain disruptions. "As a team, being in that stop-start position is not always easy because you have to switch on, switch off, and switch on back again. These are the challenges of Test cricket, especially in England where we all know about the weather," he said.
"We were very happy that we got through that period and hoping that tomorrow, providing the weather is fine, we make a decent start count," he added