JOHANNESBURG, Feb 20: South Africa have retained Faf du Plessis as captain of their Twenty20 squad for the two-match series against Pakistan starting on March 1 after A.B. de Villiers asked not to be considered for the role.

De Villiers will remain in charge of the ODI set-up, giving South Africa different skippers in all three formats of the game.

Cricket South Africa announced their squads for the shortened versions of the game on Wednesday, with the side also set to take on Pakistan in five One-day International matches in March.

“Handing Faf the Twenty20 captaincy is an exciting option for us to explore our leadership resources,” coach Gary Kirsten said. “He showed a lot of potential during the series against New Zealand in both the Twenty20 and ODI formats, and this will be another great opportunity for him to work on his role as a leader.

“Having three captains also allows us to spread the resources amongst our three formats, with Graeme [Smith] and AB also providing the ideal support in the Test and ODI formats. This is an important year for our limited-overs squads and this new direction is an exciting step forward.”

Morne Morkel should be sufficiently recovered from his hamstring injury to play in the one-day series but will be replaced by new cap Kyle Abbott for the Twenty20 matches.

South Africa have rested Jacques Kallis from both their ODI and Twenty20 squads, while Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn have been given time off for the Twenty20 series as well.

Squads: ODI: A.B. de Villiers (captain), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Faf du Plessis, Colin Ingram, Rory Kleinveldt, Ryan McLaren, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Robin Peterson, Aaron Phangiso, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

Twenty20: Du Plessis (captain), Kyle Abbott, Behardien, Henry Davids, Quinton de Kock, De Villiers, Kleinveldt, McLaren, Miller, Chris Morris, Justin Ontong, Peterson, Phangiso, Tsotsobe.—Reuters