LAHORE, Oct 8 Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sprang yet another surprise here on Friday when it named discarded middle-order batsman Misbah-ul-Haq as Test captain in place of suspended Salman Butt for the two-Test rubber against South Africa in the UAE besides recalling opener Taufiq Umar, pacers Mohammad Sami and Sohail Tanvir and Abdur Rahman.

In another important decision taken on Friday, Shahid Afridi was retained as limited-overs national captain for the five One-day Internationals and two Twenty20 games against South Africa, set to commence in the UAE from Oct 26.

Misbah became the sixth captain to take over the reins of the national team during Ijaz Butt's turbulent tenure as the PCB chief after Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Salman Butt and Shahid Afridi were removed one after the other in a span of 20 months or so.

Misbah, in his own admission, was surprised by his appointment as skipper on Friday after he was dropped from the recently-concluded England tour following a pathetic run with the bat in Australia last year.

“Frankly speaking, I was not expecting captaincy but I was hopeful about making a comeback to international cricket,” he said on Friday.

In fact Misbah, 36, who played his last Test against Australia at Sydney in January this year, had even made up his mind to quit international cricket in July this year after being ignored by national selectors.

He has played 19 Test matches at batting average of 33.60 besides 56 ODIs at an average 39.05 during his six-year stint in international cricket.

Misbah, who is also part of the limited-overs squad for the South Africa series, last featured in an ODI in September last year.

Left-handed opener Taufiq Umar, fast bowler Mohammad Sami and veteran leg-spinner Danish Kaneria also regained places in the Test team. Upcoming Asad Shafiq, who impressed with his batting in the recently held one-day series in England, also earned a place in the Test team and is likely to make his Test debut.

Taufiq, who has so far played 25 Test matches scoring 1729 runs at an average of 39.29, last represented Pakistan in a Test match way back in 2006 against England and played his last ODI against Australia in 2005.

Chief selector Mohsin Khan, while talking to Dawn said Taufiq's performance in the last domestic season with 50-plus batting average impressed the selectors.

Asked if Taufiq's last year performance was impressive, why wasn't he selected for the England tour, Mohsin said the selectors had preferred to try out Yasir Hameed who unforunately failed to deliver and now was thw time to give Taufiq another run in the Test side.

Taufiq is expected to open the innings with Imran Farhat in the South Africa Test series.

On the inclusion of Kaneria, Mohsin said though the bowler had not performed impressively in England last summer, he expected the lanky spinner to deliver on the UAE pitches.

He added that fast bowler Mohammad Sami was recalled in view of the recent suspensions of frontline pace bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamir by the ICC over spot-fixing allegations.

The middle-order batting doesn't look formidable enough and centers around veteran Mohammad Yousuf who will be supported by talented yet inexperienced batters like Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq, the last named yet to make his Test debut.

In place of experienced wicket-keeper/batsman Kamran Akmal, Zulqarnain Haider has been selected since Kamran is not fully fit after undergoing a minor appendicitis operation.

However, Mohsin said he was not satisfied with Kamran's show in England.

“Kamran's performance in England was not up to the mark. Therefore, a chance has been given to Zulqarnain [for South Africa series],” he said.

The fast bowling department, too, does not look that strong with Umar Gul Sami, inexperienced Wahab Riaz and Tanvir Ahmed and recalled Sohail Tanvir forming the line-up.

Mindful of a relatively weak fast bowling attack, the selectors have beefed up the spin department with trio of Kaneria, Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman named in the UAE-bound squad.

Meanwhile, the PCB has retained Afridi as captain for limited overs contests.

Though there were reports that England tour manager Yawar Saeed had given some negative remarks about the all-rounder, sources said the chairman had given Afridi another chance to improve his attitude and record.

Test squad

Imran Farhat, Taufiq Umar, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Danish Kaneria, Abdur Rehman, Zulqarnain Haider, Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed, Mohammad Sami, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir (subject to fitness).