Misbah will continue as Pakistan captain, says PCB chief

Karachi: The Pakistan Cricket Board put paid to all speculations about Misbah-ul-Haq being replaced as captain of the one-day side when its Chairman, Najam Sethi made it clear that the senior batsman would remain at the helm because of his impressive record.

"Misbah has the better record compared to others so he will continue to remain the captain," Sethi told reporters in Dhaka when asked about speculations that the board was planning to change the captain for the 2015 World Cup.

Speculations have been rife that the present team management are more in favor of having Shahid Afridi as captain of the one-day squad before the next international assignments of the team which will be from October when Pakistan hosts Australia in the UAE.

"Yes there has been talk that Afridi could be a better choice because of his more pro-active captaincy," one source said. But Sethi backed Misbah, saying he had done a good job of handling the team in tough times for Pakistan cricket.

The PCB chief also said that in future players would be given six-month central contracts instead of the present one-year contracts. "We will give six month contracts because we want to assess performance of players in this period. The present contracts are ready and players who don't perform in the World T20 will not be given new contracts," he added.

The central contract carries a monthly salary of between 250,000 to 340,000 for the players besides their usual match and tour fees and other sponsorship and bonus amounts. Sethi said players would now have to give their best to get contracts.

"Fitness, discipline and performance of players will be monitored while giving out central contracts," he stated. The PCB chief also said that the new selection committee has drawn up a plan to prepare the team and a pool of players for the World Cup in 2015 once the current World twenty20 tournament is over.

He said the performance of the team management would also be reviewed after the World T20.