Malik welcomes Afridi return

Shoaib Malik will hand the captaincy back to Shahid Afridi after leading the side in two games against England

Shoaib Malik is happy to pass Pakistan’s Twenty20 captaincy back to Shahid Afridi after his two-match stint at the helm is over.

Pakistan cricket is going through a period of significant turmoil, with a six-man committee assessing the team’s dismal tour of Australia, coach Intikhab Alam in exile from the senior squad and new central contracts currently on hold.

Afridi can hardly have helped the situation by picking up a two-game ban for biting the ball in Australia.

The second match of that suspension will be served in tomorrow’s meeting with England in Dubai and, while he will be restored for the second game 24 hours later, Malik will lead the side out once more.

But the 28-year-old all-rounder has no intention of adding to the confusion by staking a claim to skipper the side in the World Twenty20 beginning in April.

“For me, I just love to play cricket for Pakistan. I just want to do well for my country,” he said.

“My country needs me to captain for the next two matches and that is a great honour but I prefer it as a player more.

“Shahid Afridi is the right choice as captain. Of course it is a great honour to captain your country but Shahid has all the abilities to gel the boys together.

"We have been playing together for 11 years and in my opinion he is the right choice.”

Malik admitted that Pakistan cricket has not gone in the right direction since they lifted the World Twenty20 crown in England last summer, but he is eager to rectify that.

He said: “After winning the Twenty20 World Cup we went to Sri Lanka and didn’t do well on that tour.

“We have been struggling ever since then but you learn from your mistakes and I’m sure we will work hard on those things we are lacking, especially the number of dropped catches.

“That is an area we have to improve and we are working hard on our fielding.

“When you lose and you lose badly you have to take criticism but all I want from the players is to go out and give it their best shot.”

England and Pakistan meet tomorrow in the first of two Twenty20 internationals in two days.