December 14, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 3, 1428

LAHORE, Dec 13: Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik on Thursday said he is not bothered by the criticism over his captaincy and it was Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) job to decide whether they wanted to retain him or not.

Talking to reporters soon after the team’s arrival from India on Thursday after losing the Test series 1-0 and the One-day International series 3-2, Malik said that even though the overall performance of the Pakistan side was disappointing, some individual performances stood out and bode well for the future.

Malik conceded that his team could not play well in just one session at Delhi but that affected their overall show in the first Test. “But after that I thought we played competitive cricket in the last two Tests,” said the Sialkot player.

“Scoring over 500 runs against India on their turf, under extremely tense situations is not an easy job but we achieved it during the tough tour and held on to a draw,” said Malik while referring to the last Test in Bangalore.

“My job is to display my abilities on the ground as captain and I don’t want to say anything about the criticism over my captaincy from certain quarters. As it is, only the PCB has the authority to retain or discard a skipper,” he said.

The skipper dispelled the impression that the team’s performance was plagued by fitness problems while adding that the health problems with certain players were not due to their lack of fitness but a viral infection. “Otherwise trainer David Dawyer did an excellent job with all of them.”

Manager Talat Ali Malik also seconded Malik about Pakistan playing competitive cricket in the last two Tests. He was of the view that health and fitness problems were also responsible for hurting the team’s overall performance.

Commenting on paceman Shoaib Akhtar signing a film in India during the tour, Talat said that it was the bowler’s personal affair.