Shan Masood seeks out Gary Kirsten's expertise on batting, says the experience has been life changing

Pakistan opening batsman Shan Masood has traveled to South Africa in order to work on his batting with former South Africa batsman Gary Kirsten.

Pakistan opening batsman Shan Masood has traveled to South Africa in order to work on his batting with former South Africa batsman Gary Kirsten.

The left-handed batsman had scored 156 against England at the Old Trafford last summer but his inconsistent performances forced the selectors to leave him out for the home series against South Africa.

According to the chief selector Mohammad Wasim, Shan Masood had some technical issues in his batting which needed to be sorted out. According to Cricket Pakistan, Masood wasn’t invited to work over at the National High Performance Centre (NHPC) in Lahore, where former Pakistan batting great Mohammad Yousuf is working as a batting consultant.

Masood is currently working on ironing his flaws at the Gary Kirsten Academy at Cape Town, South Africa. Kirsten, a veteran of 101 Tests himself, has developed a sound reputation as a coach. He has worked with the national teams of South Africa, India and has been involved in franchise coaching as well. Under his coaching in 2011, India had won the World Cup.

“Getting to work with Gary over the last two weeks has been life changing for me,” Masood said in a video posted on Gary Kirsten Academy’s Instagram page. “It was exploring this opportunity to work with somebody who as a player and as a coach has been one of the best in the world.”

“I think it was more about mentally really charging my game up, learning these little tidbits, mental cues that I can take with me when I go back to play cricket," he added.

Masood has spent two weeks at the academy and will return to Karachi next week.