 Even as the captain and the coach of Pakistan, Shahid Afridi and Waqar Younis cry for more youngsters in the Pakistani line-up, the Pakistan opening
batsman Salman Butt will be the vice-captain of the Pakistan side for the Asia
Cup and for the tour of England where they will not only play England but also
host Australia.
Pakistan play a couple of Test matches against Australia, whereas they play
four Tests and five ODIS against Australia.
A Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman said, "Salman Butt has been
appointed vice captain for the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka and for the tour of England,"
It had been said that Butt wuld be appointed the captain of the Pakistan side
after the likes of Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan were banned, whereas the
T20 captain Shahid Afridi had decided not to play in the Test matches. Mohammad Yousuf was the captain of the side New Zealand and Australia.
However, Afridi said that he will play Test cricket, and that tipped the scales
in his favour and he was named the skipper. Butt had then said, "It would
be an honour if he was handed the captaincy, but he wasn't thinking about it
and chose to focus on performing as a batsman in the upcoming tours."
Pakistan will play India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the Asia Cup from
June 15-24 before heading to England for five Tests (three against England and
two against Australia), two Twenty20s against Australia, five ODIs and a Twenty20
against England.
Pakistan coach Waqar Younis said that the side was going to begin with
a very stressful few months leading up to the World Cup next year, for which
the tour of England will play a crucial role. He said that that was the reason
why the side needed to adopt a rotation policy which will help some new players
to come into the being
He also added, "I think the objective behind naming a number of youngsters
is to encourage them and it is important that players be rotated because we
have a series against South Africa in October-November this year as well."
Waqar also said that despite the captain having not played Tests for some time,
he would do a good job as the captain of the side.
Earlier, captain Shahid Afridi had said something exactly the same, and requested
the selectors to have a fine blend of youngsters and the experienced guys.
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