LAHORE, Sept 27: Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq decided on Tuesday to represent the World XI in the one-off Super Series Test against Australia in the “best interest of cricket and the country” a day after threatening to pull out.

Inzamam, who had said on Monday that he would withdraw, changed his mind the following day after he was given a pep talk by PCB Chairman, Shaharyar M. Khan, and PCB director operations, Abbas Zaidi.

Inzamam admitted that the board had wrongly informed him that he had been selected for both the one-day series and the one-off Test, but did not bother to intimate to him afterwards despite ICC’s clarification that he had been picked only for the Test.

“I had made up my mind not to go to Australia but the PCB chairman convinced me that my decision will affect the country’s image, so I decided against it,” he said after meeting the PCB chief.

Inzamam ridiculed the reports that the pullout decision was a result of his bitterness after he was stopped from parking his car in the Qadhafi Stadium premises on Monday.

The PCB chairman insisted the entire issue was a result of misunderstanding. He said that the ICC president Ehsan Mani and chief executive Malcolm Speed had telephoned him about the issue and he assured them that Inzamam would play.

“Chairman of PCB invited Pakistan captain Inzamamul Haq on Sept 26 to his residence and explained to him the background of genuine misunderstanding in the telephone conversation between Dave Richardson, general manager ICC and Salim Altaf, director cricket operations, regarding his (Inzamam’s) selection to the Super Series squads,” said a PCB press release which was issued after the meeting.

“The chairman advised Inzamam that in the interest of Pakistan cricket he should participate in the Super Series in Australia. Inzamam responded positively to chairman’s advice and agreed to play the Test match at Sydney,” it added.

The first meeting between PCB chairman and Inzamam proved futile. It followed another at National Cricket Academy (NCA) in the morning between Inzamam and Zaidi which lasted one and a half hour. The decision came in Inzamam’s second meeting with the PCB chief.

The 35-year-old Inzamam replaced the injured Indian star Sachin Tendulkar.

The ICC-organised Super Series features three one-dayers in Melbourne on Oct 5, 7 and 9 and the six-day Test in Sydney from Oct 14.

The Pakistan skipper is due to travel to Australia later this week but will break his journey to avoid a recurrence of the back trouble which forced him to miss two Tests in Australia last year.