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| September 03, 2008 | Wednesday | Ramazan 2, 1429 |
Shoaib Malik confident of staying on as Pakistan captain
KARACHI, Sept 2: With speculations rife that he might be sacked as captain, Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik on Tuesday countered the charges of team’s poor performance under him.
Malik gave the example of inaugural World Twenty20 championship last year where Pakistan reached the final. “We did well in that (World Twenty20) tournament and remember Pakistan also won 12 consecutive One-dayers with me as captain earlier this year,” Shoaib said Tuesday.
Shoaib’s captaincy is under threat following the exit of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf. The vacant post of PCB chief is likely to be filled in a week or so and it is anticipated that sweeping changes would be made in the cricket set-up.
Malik though is confident of staying as Pakistan captain and said that all the speculations about his sacking will slowly die down in the coming days. “I did not tell anybody to make me captain,” Shoaib said. “I was chosen to lead Pakistan and I have been doing the job in the best possible manner,” the all-rounder said.
However, he sounds a bit optimistic in the current scenario. Malik was preferred over senior players to lead Pakistan after the humiliating first round exit from the 2007 World Cup. Ashraf handed the captaincy reins to Malik from Inzamam-ul-Haq, who resigned after the World Cup debacle in the Caribbean.
Dr Ashraf resigned as PCB chairman last month, just hours after Pervez Musharraf - the Board’s chief patron - stepped down as president.
Reports in recent days have suggested that vice-captain Misbah-ul-Haq is expected to take over from Malik though senior players Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi are also in fray for captaincy.—Agencies
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