PCB wants Inzy to continue as captain

Pakistan Cricket Board chief Shaharyar Khan has said that Inzamam-ul-Haq should lead the team at least till the 2007 World Cup in West Indies.

Pakistani skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq received a vote of confidence from his country's cricket chief Shaharyar Khan who said the 35-year-old should lead the team at least till the 2007 World Cup in the West Indies.

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"Inzamam is the only world class player we have at the moment. He is our best batsman and no one understands the game better than him. I would want him to lead the team atleast till the 2007 World Cup," Khan, chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board, said.

Khan also said India and Pakistan have agreed to make their cricket rivalry an annual affair with India proposed to tour the neighbouring country for a full-fledged series early next year.

"BCCI and PCB have agreed to make this an annual feature. The Indian team will now visit Pakistan early next year. Then we might have a break as there is the World Cup, but it will resume the year after that," Khan told the BBC Hindi.

"And now with the ICC calendar being extended to six years, it will be easier to fit in the series every year."

Speaking about the timing of India's proposed tour to Pakistan next year, he said, "We still have to decide the dates of the tour as our players may be very tired, they have just come back from Australia and after the India series they will travel to the West Indies.

"But I think it will be early next year. We are now sending a proposed itinerary and a list of venues to the BCCI."

Khan expressed scepticism over the possibility of Shoaib Akhtar proving his fitness for the one-day series starting on April 2.

"We have definitely missed him, he will come back when he is fit but his chances of playing the one-day series are 50-50."