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Aamir Sohail to captain Pakistan in Sahara Cup

Opener Aamir Sohail will lead the Pakistan cricket team in the Sahara Cup in Canada, and the subsequent home series against Australia and Zimbabwe.

The Pakistan Cricket Board's executive council also appointed former Test star Javed Miandad as the Pakistani team coach.

Sohail replaces captain Rashid Latif; Miandad takes over from Haroon Rasheed. The previous leadership was blamed for the team's poor performance in South Africa and Zimbabwe earlier this year.

One of the moves was expected, the other is rather surprising. While Miandad's name has been floated for the job of coach, for a while now, Sohail's own colleagues -- most notably fellow opener Saeed Anwar and middle order star Inzamam ul Haq -- had openly told the PCB that they did not want to play under Sohail.

''There was complete unanimity in these decisions, and they are taken in the best interest of the team,'' PCB chairman Khalid Mahmood said.

Asked about the tenure of the two appointments -- crucial, in light of the fact that recently, the PCB said its thinking was to appoint a long term captain, in order to arrest what it sees as a slide in the country's cricketing standards -- Mahmood said, ''The board wants them to continue until the next World Cup, but it will depend on their performance during the Sahara Cup and the two series.''

The PCB has also announced a second string team to take part in the cricket competition at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This team will have six Test players and three internationals, while the full eleven goes to Toronto, for the Sahara Cup series between September 12-20 against India.

The Pakistan team for the Commonwealth Games: Salim Elahi (captain), Basit Ali, Suleman Huda, Kashif Ahmad, Azhar Shafiq, Akhtar Sarfaraz, Taimur Khan, Javed Qadeer (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Javed, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Nazir, Arshad Khan and Mohammad Husain.

While 18 probables have been picked for the Sahara Cup, the PCB is yet to make a final decision on the composition of the final fourteen. The board is believed to be awaiting reports from Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmad and Wasim Akram on their availability, as all three are engaged on the county circuit.

Akram's county, Lancashire, has already indicated that it is not prepared to release him. Further, Akram himself said in a recent interview to the media in London that he was fed up of all the allegations linking him to gambling, betting and match fixing, and that he did not want to play till they had been cleared up.

The PCB indicated that a final decision on the team composition would be taken by month-end.