Afridi named as Pakistan captain for Asia Cup and England tour

All-rounder Shahid Afridi has been named skipper of Pakistan for the Asia cup and the tour of England this year after announcing he was available again for Test cricket after a four-year absence.

Afridi, 30, will lead the team in the four-nation Asia Cup from 12 June and then in the six Tests and five one-dayers that Pakistan are scheduled to play against Australia and England.

Former captains Younus Khan and Shoaib Malik and fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, have also been selected in a 35-man preliminary squad.

Afridi captained Pakistan in the recent ICC World Twenty20 2010 in the West Indies where the 2009 champions lost to Australia in the semi-finals.

"It is a great honour for me but also a big challenge but Test cricket is not like T20 or one-day cricket. It is tough and very, very challenging," Afridi told a news conference on Tuesday.

"I don't want to make tall claims because we are going through a rebuilding phase in our Test team so it is going to be a tough tour for us."

List of probables:

Openers:

1.        Salman Butt  
   

2.        Imran Farhat  
   

3.        Yasir Hameed  
   

4.        Khurram Manzoor  
   

5.        Shahzaib Hassan  
   

6.        Azhar Ali  
   

7.        Azeem Ghumman   
   

Middle Order:

8.        Younis Khan    
   

9.        Shoaib Malik   
   

10.      Umar Akmal                                                                          
    

11.      Faisal Iqbal                                                    
    

12.      Fawad Alam  
    

13.      Hassan Raza  
    

14.      Asad Shafiq   
    

15.      Umar Amin  
    

16.      Aamir Sajjad  
    

17.      Muhammad Hafeez   
    

All Rounders:

18.      Shahid Afridi            (Captain)  
    

19.      Abdul Razzaq  
    

20.      Yasir Arafat                                                  
    

Fast Bowlers:

21.      Umar Gul  
    

22.      Shoaib Akhtar  
    

23.      Muhammad Asif  
    

24.      Muhammad Amir  
    

25.      Muhammad Sami       
    

26.      Wahab Riaz  
    

27.      Muhammad Irfan  
    

28.      Tanveer Ahmed  
    

29.      Aizaz Cheema  
    

Spinners:

30.      Danish Kaneria   
    

31.      Abdul Rehman  
    

32.      Saeed Ajmal  
    

33.      Zulfiqar Babar                                                                        
    

Wicker-Keepers:

34.      Kamran Akmal                       
    

35.      Zulqarnain Haider