Afridi to lead Pakistan in World Twenty20
March 23rd, 2010 - 7:03 pm ICT by IANSKarachi, March 23 (IANS) Shahid Afridi was Tuesday named as Pakistan captain for the World Twenty20 championship.
Afridi, 30, will lead a 15-man squad in the tournament, beginning April 30 in the West Indies. Pakistan are the defending champions.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had named their squad for the World Twenty20 earlier this month but did not name the captain, fuelling speculations that apart from Afridi the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt is also mulling over other options like senior all-rounder Abdul Razzaq, Misbah-ul-Haq and Salman Butt.
Afridi was named Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain soon after the team claimed the World Twenty20 title in England last summer under Younis Khan’s captaincy. Younis, however, retired from Twenty20 cricket the day his team achieved the memorable triumph.
Afridi was the obvious choice as he is regarded as an aggressive captain and is counted among the most destructive all-rounders in the shortest version of the game.
But Afridi’s captaincy came under a cloud when he was caught biting the ball in Pakistan’s fifth and final One-day International against Australia in Perth and was subsequently banned for two Twenty20 Internationals. In his absence, Shoaib Malik led Pakistan in the one-off T20 game against Australia at the MCG and later in a two-match series against England in Dubai.
Malik was in contention for the World Twenty20 captaincy but the all-rounder was banned for one year by the PCB earlier this month over indiscipline and was thus ruled out of the event.
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- Afridi says will have zero tolerance to politics ruining dressing room's atmosphere - May 28, 2010
- Pakistan drop Riaz over spot-fixing links - Nov 21, 2011
- Misbah replaces Afridi for Ireland ODI series - May 19, 2011
- PCB chief leaves for New Zealand to decide on WC captain - Jan 20, 2011
- Pakistan announce World Cup squad without a captain - Jan 18, 2011
- Afridi likely to be named T20 captain today - Mar 23, 2010
- Former Pakistan players hail selection of Younis, Malik - May 26, 2010
- Afridi in, Malik out of PCB's squad for T20 World Cup - Mar 13, 2010
- Afridi to get NOC to play for Hampshire - Jun 15, 2011
- Pakistan snubs ICL players for T20 World Cup - May 04, 2009
- Miffed Afridi decides to retire, PCB comes under pressure - May 31, 2011
- Akmal rejoicing return to Pakistan team - Jan 05, 2011
Tags: contention, haq, indiscipline, internationals, karachi, man squad, mcg, memorable triumph, misbah, pakistan captain, pakistan cricket board, pakistan cricket board pcb, rounder, rounders, salman butt, shahid afridi, speculations, west indies, world twenty20, younis khan