Pakistan turn to Malik

Shoaib Malik follows through during his innings of 36 yesterday. He will captain Pakistan in Friday's Twenty20 encounter

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Shoaib Malik has been named as Pakistan captain for Friday’s Twenty20 international against Australia.

Malik will take over from Shahid Afridi, who has been banned for two T20 clashes after being found guilty of ball tampering during the fifth one-day international defeat by Australia in Perth.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has moved quickly to fill the void with Malik reclaiming the role he once had.

He was first appointed skipper in May 2007 after the ICC World Cup and led Pakistan in three Tests and 36 ODIs, before handing over the reins to Younus Khan early last year.

Malik will be the third captain on this tour, after Mohammad Yousuf, who is not part of the Twenty20 squad, and Afridi.

If the captaincy merry-go-round were not disrupting enough, chief selector Iqbal Qasim has also announced his resignation.

Pakistan lost all three Tests and all five-one-day matches against Australia, with Qasim stepping down in the aftermath of defeat in the fifth one-day match at the WACA yesterday.