As per AAJ NEWS Shoaib Malik will lead PAK against England in T20 match, while Kamran Akmal is dropped..
Afridi is in squad..
Inti not allowed to travel to Dubai with team...

makes no sense at all to drop Kamran Akmal - he scored half the team total in the T20 and was good behind the stumps?!
i hope Malik doesnt become the captain beyond these T20's?!

^LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL this is ludicrous!!!! T20 is one of the formats of the game that Akmal can genuinely play in and we drop him from it?!

i hope its only for the 2 20/20 against england, and not for the 20/20 wc......

no no no its just 2 scare kamran, im sure in the windies he will be there inshallah.....

Kamran Akmal axed for UAE series
Osman Samiuddin
February 8, 2010
Kamran Akmal has paid the price for his fumbles during the Australian tour, as well as his repeated statements to the press in the run-up to the Hobart Test, by being dropped from Pakistan's Twenty20 squad to take on England in Dubai on February 19-20.

The team will be led by Shoaib Malik, who captained in Shahid Afridi's absence in Melbourne, for both games. Afridi, Pakistan's regular Twenty20 captain, has been banned for two matches after being found guilty of ball-tampering in the fifth ODI against Australia in Perth. Having already sat out the Melbourne game, he will miss the first match against England on February 19.

Akmal was vice-captain for the tour, but dropped four crucial catches during the second Test in Sydney as Pakistan crashed to a shattering defeat. Until the last international of the tour, he didn't produce much with the bat either, a 33-ball 64 in the Twenty his only international fifty on the entire tour.

A series of belligerent comments to the Australian press in the aftermath of the Sydney Test, when he insisted he would be retained for Hobart, despite the PCB already having sent Sarfraz Ahmed as replacement and stated that he will play, has also not been looked upon kindly and is expected to lead to further sanction. The matter will be investigated by a board evaluation committee later this week, pending the submission of the tour manager's report.

There are other significant changes to the squad that toured Australia. Abdul Razzaq has replaced Naved-ul-Hasan, and Yasir Arafat has also returned. The fast bowlers Mohammad Talha and Wahab Riaz, with the Pakistan A side to play against the England Lions in Dubai, are also part of the squad, and Mohammad Aamer has been named in the reserves. Aamer picked up a groin injury that ruled him out of the last three ODIs and the Twenty20 in Australia. The selectors have also kept middle-order batsman Aamer Sajjad in the UAE with the senior squad - he is vice-captain of the Pakistan A team - as a reserve along with pacer Rao Iftikhar Anjum.

Pakistan are currently without a chief selector, Iqbal Qasim having stood down last week after Pakistan's Australian whitewash. He was asked to continue but refused to do so. This squad was selected, it is believed, with inputs from PCB chairman Ijaz Butt, the board's chief operating office Wasim Bari, and the existing selection committee. It is believed that Yawar Saeed, a former manager of the side and close to Butt, was also involved in the process, leading to speculation that he might be the new head of the committee.

Mohammad Asif will not be able to enter the UAE due to the authorities having refused to revoke the travelling restrictions imposed on the Pakistan fast bowler.

Pakistan squad: Shoaib Malik (capt), Imran Farhat, Imran Nazir, Khalid Latif, Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Yasir Arafat, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Talha, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul.

Reserves: Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Aamer Sajjad, Mohammad Aamer.

Osman Samiuddin is Pakistan editor of Cricinfo

Feeds: Osman Samiuddin

if Aamer is fit then he slots back in nicely for Asif and Razzaq takes over from Rana
if Aamer doesnt make it, id be tempted to give Riaz a go - but its the batting which worries me, it looks very brittle but maybe those flat tracks will let the bullies come out again lol

stupid no-brainers havent included butt.......

aamer isnt selected, hes a reserve, so that means hes only going if someones get injured right?

agree our batting doesnt look that intimidating without akmal at the top order....

should Butt have been included in the T20 side?

off course why not? lately hes been of the better batsmen in our team.....

i thought he was crap in the odis he had one decent knock and a 30 odd and thats it
as for T20 hes does nothing to warrant a recall? mind you i do agree id rather have him in the squad than Farhat

i think he was robbed off another 50 in the odis, he was nothing spectacular though, an for his own confidence sake he sholdnt be anywhere near the t20s, the t20 world cup last time round pretty much cost him his place in the odis and tests for a few months later

and still he was one of the better batsmen during that series on our side then......

i think we all remember the buttt during the world cup, but that was a butt out of form....

im sure he will get another chance in the future inshallah.

it's good they've dropped Akmal and Butt; so they smarten up...I'd rather see new talent being produced rather than keep watching failed batsman playing..

it was a 50 over series i dont think that should make up for his horrible performances in T20 throughout his career not just in the T20 WC
he probably will get another chance, hopefully he takes it with both hands and performs but until then he hasnt done anything to suggest otherwise - as you would say, let him go back and perform in domestic 20/20 before earning a callup, heck Shahzaib deserves a go before Butt

^^^^you're right, let hims show it during the domestic....

i dont think shahzaib hasan is that special or anything, he looked average 2 me, i wouldnt select him......at the moment hes not out on 34

shahzb hassan is awful! a really poor mans timepass version of imran nazir, the guy scoops everything full and is generally quite late on the ball, hes just a big hefty overgrown kid

he has NO footwork but it would be unfair to drop him out because performances count

not akmal, then who will wicketkeep. it doesn't say anything about sarfraz nawaz

Sarfraz Ahmed (wk)

^^^ oh right that anyhoo.

is captain? Hope we beat England. Its tomorrow is it not?

^^^^pakistan A against the lions is tomorrow......

^Pakistan 'A'? It's not a proper international T20 game???

nope, the real pakistanies play the 19th

hmmmm now thats an interesting post .... so our A team is a Fake ......

Malik denies interest in Pakistan captaincy
Cricinfo staff
February 12, 2010

Shoaib Malik has asked for Shahid Afridi to return as captain for the second Twenty20 against England © Getty Images

Shoaib Malik, Pakistan's Twenty20 captain for the two games against England, has said he has no interest in leading the side and would prefer to play and perform as a normal member of the side. Malik was made captain by the board following the banning of regular leader Shahid Afridi for two matches after he was found guilty of tampering the ball during an ODI in Australia.

But in a meeting with chairman PCB Ijaz Butt on Thursday, Malik apparently made a request to not be captain for both games and allow Afridi to take the reins for the second game when his ban ends. "I have no interest in the captaincy of Pakistan," Malik told reporters in Lahore. "I just want to play and play well, do well and help Pakistan win matches. I met the chairman yesterday and the meeting went well."

Malik was captain of Pakistan in all three formats till February last year, when he was removed following an ODI series defeat to Sri Lanka. A report by the management and coach of the time found him to be "aloof" and a "loner" and unfit to lead Pakistan.

Since then Malik has been a peripheral figure in the side, often hitting solid form but being dropped readily for low scores. He was in and out of the side through the long tours to New Zealand and Australia. But he has been at the centre of a steady string of hints and allegations from two subsequent captains for being a disruptive influence on the side.

First Younis Khan, who stepped down from the post following an ODI series loss to New Zealand last November, said he had lost control over his players; Malik's name cropped up regularly at the time from a number of people within the team set-up as being one of those at the front of Younis' complaints.

Then, after the tour to Australia, Mohammad Yousuf, who took over from Younis, pinpointed the role of one person in disrupting unity within the team through the tour. Though no name was taken, it was widely speculated that he was referring to Malik, with whom he has had an icy relationship from the time he was dropped from the World Twenty20 squad in 2007 when Malik was captain.

Malik seemed to confirm that he was the target of Yousuf's ire by responding to those very allegations and launching his own attack, again without naming Yousuf. He said he wants to speak to the inquiry committee looking into the reasons behind Pakistan's disastrous Australian tour. The six-man committee, headed by Wasim Bari, the board COO, began work today by interviewing Shahid Afridi and the team manager Abdur Raqueeb.

"I requested the chairman to let me have my say in front of the inquiry committee," Malik said. "I want to ask you guys one thing. If you compare the spirit in the first seven matches on the Australian tour to the spirit you saw in the last two matches, what was the difference? Wasn't it a totally different side? And who wasn't playing in those last two games?" Yousuf missed the last ODI in Perth and isn't a part of Pakistan's T20I squad.

Malik took a further dig at Yousuf's leadership, saying he would've attacked more during the fateful final day of the Sydney Test. Yousuf was widely criticised for the defensive fields he set when Michael Hussey and Peter Siddle added 123 runs for the ninth wicket, allowing Australia to set Pakistan 176 for victory, having been effectively 80 for 8 when the fourth day began.

"I think we should've attacked more at Siddle and Hussey. We didn't and that is why we lost. We need to stop making excuses about why we lost and just go out on to the field and perform and give our full effort. I don't believe in making excuses, I believe only in giving my best efforts on the field. I don't need to justify myself, I just try and do that on the ground with my performances.

if malik had left out the part 'And who wasn't playing in those last two games?',then i wouldnt have that much problems with his comments, but this way hes reacting on yousuf, and hes lowering himself to yousufs level.....

ok so hes gone from being a loner to the suspected weasel leader of half of the team? things are not adding up
just dump the lot of them, Yousuf and Malik should both be shown the door along with anyone else involved

politics, its all about politics...

57 off 55 balls today v England Lions - hes certainly shown more than Butt to get into the T20 side - fair enough he looks average but hes young and had a tough induction on english wickets and came out ok, granted I Nazir should be no.1 choice but Shahzaib shouldnt be behind the likes of Butt in T20

Malik vows to 'expose Yousuf publicly'

Karachi: Dismissing Mohammad Yousuf's allegation that he was spoiling the unity of Pakistan team, Shoaib Malik has said he will give a fitting reply to the senior batsman very soon.

Yousuf, who led the national team during a disappointing tour of Australia where Pakistan was whitewashed by the hosts in both the one-day and Test series, has pointed finger at Malik saying he encouraged groupings inside the team.

"He (Yousuf) has made some serious allegations against me and this time I am going to reply to him very soon and expose him publicly," Malik told reporters in Lahore.

"That allegation is not a true. I have always been a team man and I have done nothing to spoil the atmosphere of the team. Yousuf attacked me first when I was captain in 2008 and he is doing it again now when I have been made captain for these two matches," Malik added.

Malik has been appointed as the Pakistan captain for the two Twenty20 internationals against England in Dubai on February 19 and 20.

Sources said although during his meeting with the PCB chief Ejaz Butt, Malik was told to calm down and avoid any media controversy but the latter replied that he had every right to defend himself against the allegation being made by Yousuf.

Press Trust Of India

agree 100 percent, this dispute is getting ridiculous