Well-informed sources told Arab News on Monday that Afridi has received firm assurances from within the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that he would be captaining the national team in all three formats during the England tour. He will also be appointed as the captain for next month's Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.
Afridi, 30, will be meeting PCB chairman Ijaz Butt Tuesday morning at the Board headquarters in Lahore during which it is expected that the all-rounder will be told that he will be Pakistan's captain for Tests, One-day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals.
"Afridi wasn't sure whether he should made a Test comeback because of a hectic schedule which will see Pakistan playing non-stop cricket in the lead up to next year's World Cup," said the source. "But the PCB managed to convince Afridi that the Pakistan team will need him for back-to-back Test assignments against Australia and England this summer. He was told that the team has a greater chance of uniting under his command after which he made up his mind to make his Test return.
Afridi has just played 26 Tests in his international career which began in 1996, having scored 1683 runs at 37.40 with five centuries and eight fifties. He has also taken 47 wickets at 34.84. His last Test appearance came almost four years back against England in Manchester. Since then Afridi has stayed away from Test cricket in a bid to completely focus on limited-overs cricket.
Till a few days back, Afridi was convinced that he should just concentrate on one-day and Twenty20 cricket in a bid to stay fully fit for World Cup 2011 to be held in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka in February-March.
But with the PCB running shot of options as far as the national team's captaincy is concerned, all eyes were on him to come out of his Test exile and lead Pakistan during the tough tour of England.
The Board had considered opener Salman Butt for the job but the 25-year-old's lack of captaincy experience went against him.
