Test batsman Shan Masood has paved the way for what Pakistan can call Zoom cricket.

As they picked their cricket gear and pretended to play a match, Masood, 30, was video-chatting with teammates.

“A couple of us guys were talking on Zoom and it was pretty late at night and somebody just picked up a ball,” Masood told AFP. “He had a ball (in) his hand and eventually all of us got kitted up and we played… a made-up cricket match.”

“So that was quite a funny moment where I kind of had my helmet on. Hassan Ali was seaming into the ball, Imam ul Haq was fielding, Wahab Riaz was the captain,” he added.

“(We) just made it into a funny little incident.”

Like most other sports, cricket is at a standstill during the pandemic, to the dismay of players and fans.

Masood said that the Pakistan squad had been at home training — sometimes using staircases and armchairs as exercise equipment — to prepare for the return of cricket.

“Everyone’s been training, everyone’s been being good, and also that we have to take into account that this is the month of Ramadan and it’s harder to train,” said Masood. “Hopefully that whenever this thing ends… all this hard work that we’re putting in right now, even with uncertainty around, it (will) be translated into cricketing performances.”