Shahid Afridi named captain for Asia Cup, full England tour

Pakistan today named all-rounder Shahid Afridi captain for next month's Asia Cup and the subsequent full tour of England, opting for a single skipper for all three formats of the game.

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

Former captains Younis Khan and Shoaib Malik were also included in a 35-man list of probables, which will be culled down before the two events, pending a decision on the bans imposed on them by the PCB. Controversial fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar was also included among the probables.

The 30-year-old Afridi, who led Pakistan to the semifinals in the Twenty20 World Cup earlier this month, now becomes the 27th man to lead Pakistan in Test cricket.

"It is a great challenge to lead the team in all forms of the game. I will try to do my best and take all the players as a unit and build towards winning the World Cup," said Afridi, who last played a Test match in mid 2006.

With Afridi's appointment, Pakistan's leadership crisis, which began during last November's New Zealand tour, has finally come to an end.

Pakistan will play in the four-nation Asia Cup in Sri Lanka from June 15-25 and then head for the tour of England.

Pakistan will play four Tests, five one-day and two Twenty20 Internationals against England during the two-and-a-half-month-long tour that finishes in late
September.

The 15-man squad for the Asia Cup will be announced early next month after a short training camp in Karachi. The squad for England will be decided after that.

The Probables: Shahid Afridi (capt), Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Khurram Manzoor, Shahzaib Hassan, Azhar Ali, Azeem Ghumman, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam, Hassan Raza, Asad Shafiq, Umar Amin, Aamer Sajjad, Mohammad Hafeez, 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).