Salman Butt is going to take over the captaincy of Pakistan cricket team for the second and final Test match against Australia in Headingley in Leeds. He will also lead Pakistan in their following four Test series against England starting at the Trent Bridge on July 29, 2010.
Shahid Afridi announced his retirement from Test cricket immediately after leading Pakistan to a 150-run defeat against Australia in the opening match of the series at Lord’s. He also announced that the Headingley fixture would be his last Test. However, Afridi still remains captain in both ODI and Twenty20 cricket.
The match against Australia in Lord’s was Afridi’s first Test match after four years.
Shahid Afridi handed over the captaincy to vice-captain, Salman Butt, before making his retirement. Under the captaincy of Salman Butt, Pakistan cricket team will play the next five Test matches where wicketkpper-batsman Kamran Akmal would be his deputy.
Twenty-five-year-old Salman Butt has been in good form. He was the top run scorer in the opening Test with scoring 63 and 92 in the two innings respectively. Salman Butt is going to be the seventh Test captain in just three years.
The retirement of Shahid Afridi will make a big void in the squad of Pakistan cricket team. Pakistan cricket team is now playing without experienced batsmen like Mohammad Yousuf and Younus Khan. These two former captains could not make their place in the current Test squad following their poor performance in Pakistan’s 3-0 series loss in Australia earlier this year.
No doubt, Salman Butt is going to face a tough challenge after taking the captaincy of Pakistan cricket team. It will be interesting to see how long he can hold the captaincy.
i think butt is good batsman but i am worry hw he is goin to handle the players
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