July 27, 2008	Sunday	Rajab 23, 1429

KARACHI, July 26: Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik, speaking to a private television channel on Friday, insisted that although his deputy Misbah-ul-Haq led Pakistan to a grand win over India in an Asia Cup round match early this month, it was he (Malik) who selected the playing eleven for the key clash.

Malik sat out that crucial game on July 2 due to exhaustion and dehydration and Misbah, making the most of the opportunity, brought back an otherwise down-and-out Pakistan into the Asia Cup with a strong display of captaincy.

Pakistan outplayed a star-studded India on that sultry day by successfully chasing a 300-plus score for the loss of just two wickets with Younis Khan scoring a superb hundred and backed well by fine half centuries from Misbah himself and young opener Nasir Jamshed.

Answering a question regarding the aggressive leadership style of Misbah compared to his own defensive one, a weary-looking Malik told the channel that there wasn’t anything great about Misbah leading Pakistan to victory in the Karachi game since the selection of the playing eleven on that day was done by him which clicked famously.

As per the PCB rules, only the selection committee has the right to select the final playing eleven in a home series game which, in effect, defeats Malik’s claims of selecting the squad against Dhoni’s men in that crucial tie.

Malik has come under lot of criticism from former skippers Wasim Akram, Aamir Sohail and Ramiz Raja for his lacklustre captaincy and defensive approach during his year-long tenure at the helm.

The experts also feel that he has failed in motivating the players in crucial matches and — with his recent mediocre performance with both bat and ball, he hardly deserves a place in the squad.