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Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board appears to be caught up in another self-created problem with indications that it is finding it difficult to find someone to lead the team in the coming series against South Africa in the UAE.
The failure of the board to announce the captain for the first leg of the series that includes one-day and T20 matches despite including Shahid Afridi in the squad means it remains uncertain over the captaincy issue.
"There is some confusion over the captaincy issue because logically Afridi should have been named captain for the limited over series as he has led the team satisfactorily in the limited over matches this year," a source in the board said.
He also pointed out that the board had indicated earlier while appointing Afridi as captain that he would continue till the 2011 World Cup.
"The failure to name the captain for the ODI and T20 series means there is confusion over the captaincy issue because of several reasons one of them the expected return of Younis Khan to the Test side and secondly the possibility of Salman Butt being available for selection after his ICC hearing on October 30th and 31st in Doha," the source said.
"There has been some contact between Younis Khan and the board in recent days and now the Chairman, Ijaz Butt is contemplating bringing back Younis as captain for the South Africa series as Test captain," another source added.
He explained that Butt wanted a way out if matters didn't work out with Younis or if the former captain himself preferred to return to the team as just a player and not captain.
"The other options available for Butt is then to appoint Afridi as test and one-day captain at the same time," the source said.
He said this was also a difficult task for the board since Afridi had indicated that he was happy just leading the team in the limited over matches and didn't want to be part of the Test team even as a player.
Afridi had suddenly announced his decision to retire from Test cricket and leave the captaincy after Pakistan lost the first test to Australia in England in July.
Afridi's sudden decision led to the appointment of Salman Butt as Test captain but he is now under suspension from the International Cricket Council for his alleged role in the spot fixing scandal.
"The board is also waiting to see how the appeals hearing of the three suspended players including Aamer and Asif goes in Doha," the source said.
The PCB has not given up on the option of Butt being cleared by the ICC and having his suspension removed after the hearing. If that happens then Butt would be available for the Tests against South Africa that would be played after the one-day and T20 series.
