Karachi: Pakistan’s mercurial all-rounder, Shahid Afridi, has been given the responsibility of leading the Pakistan team in all three formats of the game ahead of a busy schedule for Pakistan this summer. Afridi will captain the side the in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and then six Tests, five ODIs, as well as four T20Is, in England against Australia and the hosts.

“Afridi will lead Pakistan in one-day and Test cricket and is our best choice,” Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ejaz Butt told reporters here.

Pakistan’s selectors also opened the door on a possible return for Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik, two men only recently banned by the board for indiscipline while another man, who has had his share of disciplinary problems, Shoaib Akhtar, has been called up in a 35-man list of probables, which will be culled down before the two events.

The squad announcements were among the most eagerly-awaited in a long time for any team, given the chaos that followed in Pakistan cricket since the tour to Australia. Pakistan effectively have been without a Test and ODI captain since then and had punished seven leading players – including four former captains – over disciplinary issues. But in recent days, speculation had grown that Afridi, already the Twenty20 captain, would be appointed.

Once he had publicly announced a few days back that he would be available to play Tests, a format he had left four years ago, the decision was all but sealed to once again unite the leadership of all three formats under one man.

“We requested Afridi to take on the Test captaincy and he very graciously accepted,” Ijaz Butt, chairman PCB, told reporters, flanked by Afridi and Mohsin Khan, chief selector.

Afridi now becomes the 27th man to lead Pakistan in Tests and the fourth captain since the start of 2009.The decision, however, is a huge risk that PCB has taken considering that the last time Afridi took the field in whites was exactly four years ago on Pakistan’s last tour to England. He has never been a permanent in the test side and in the 26 tests that he has played, he hasn’t done anything to actually deserve a place in the team itself.

Afridi asked for patience in what he accepted will be a challenging role. “I have accepted this as a challenge,” Afridi said. “Pakistan needs a senior player right now to lead them and that is why I accepted this. I don’t think we should have too many expectations for Test cricket right now but I will try to get our ranking up to where it should be.”

The other big decisions were recalling the two former captains Younis and Malik back into the squad. Their return is dependent on their appeals against the ban being overturned by an independent arbitrator, but having been selected it seems unlikely their bans will now stay. Younis was handed an indefinite ban by an inquiry committee after the Australia tour earlier this year and Malik was given a one-year ban.

But their potential return and that of Shoaib [Akhtar] was insisted upon by Afridi, who said the tough summer ahead would require experienced players in the team. Shoaib last played an international for Pakistan in May 2009 and his last Test back in December 2007, but has this season turned out in domestic cricket in a bid to prove his fitness. He was particularly impressive in the Pentangular ODI cup in Karachi recently.

“It will be good if we can get back Younis and Shoaib because the team will be stronger with them in it,” Afridi said. “England is always a difficult challenge as a tour and you need experienced players on it. The mix has to be right between juniors and seniors.”

Afridi revealed that he had also spoken to Mohammad Yousuf in a bid to get him to take back his retirement and return to international cricket. Yousuf had walked away from the game earlier this year after also being handed an indefinite ban by the board and he is the only one of the seven players punished not to have appealed against his punishment. But Afridi said Yousuf was unwilling to change his mind.

Misbah-ul-Haq has been dropped once again, following disappointing performances since his comeback on the tours to New Zealand and Australia. Kamran Akmal, who has been alleged for match-fixing on the tour to Australia and hasn’t really been in the best of forms behind the stumps, has been retained in the squad.

The 15-man squad for the Asia Cup will be decided in the first week of June after a short, five to six-day training camp in Karachi. The squad for England will be decided soon after that.

Probables: Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Khurram Manzoor, Shahzaib Hassan, Azhar Ali, Azeem Ghumman, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam, Hasan Raza, Asad Shafiq, Umar Amin, Aamer Sajjad, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahid Afridi (capt), Abdul Razzaq, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Sami, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan, Tanvir Ahmed, Aizaz Cheema, Danish Kaneria, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar, Kamran Akmal (wk), Zulqarnain Haider (wk)

Related News Headlines

• No Related Post

Cricketain Latest

• Sachin, Dhoni, Sehwag in race for ICC awards
• No-ball row: Sangakkara takes full responsibility
• BCCI will not pursue no-ball matter with SLC
• BCCI denies compelling fatigued cricketers to play
• Bowlers in desperate need of a break: MS Dhoni
• Yuvraj out with dengue, Nehra uncertain for Sri Lanka ODI
• “Pakistan players should be allowed to play in IPL 4”
• ECB asks Pietersen to stay away from Lalit Modi
• Munaf Patel called up as cover for Ishant
• Final squads for CLT20 announced, Flintoff not in CSK squad