LAHORE: PCB’s former chairman Ijaz Butt has criticised the decision of appointing all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez as the captain of the T20 squad in place of Misbah-ul-Haq.

“Hafeez is not a suitable candidate for captaincy of any format of the game and Misbah-ul-Haq was the best choice, but I don’t know what kind of pressure Zaka was under, which forced him to take an unnecessary decision, without any rock-solid reason,” Ijaz told Dawn.

Ijaz, who appointed Misbah as skipper for all the three formats after testing him as Test captain for almost one year, said the calm and cool middle-order batsman had all the guts to lead the team in all formats of the game as his records speak itself.

When told that the PCB chairman had the stance that the decision was taken keeping in mind the future of the national T20 team, Ijaz said he would not support any change but if it was necessary it should have been made after the T20 World Cup which is going to be held in about three months.

The former chairman added that Shoaib Malik should be given the captaincy of at least the T20 team after the World Cup as he was a better choice as compared to Hafeez.

He said though Hafeez was a good all-rounder, he had some shortcomings as captain which could not be discussed in public.

He said Zaka could not give any genuine reason of appointing Hafeez as captain. It also looked somewhat unfair with Misbah because it may hurt his confidence while leading the team in Tests and ODIs.

Ijaz further said Pakistan had to play just five T20 matches before the World Cup and that would not help Hafeez.

The PCB had made Hafeez the captain of the T20 team and vice-captain of Misbah in Tests and ODIs on Thursday.

The change was surprising since the team was doing fairly well under Misbah.