Azhar Ali set to become Pakistan ODI skipper

In a surprise move, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is set to appoint batsman Azhar Ali as the new captain of the national one-day team and name wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed as his deputy on Monday.

With Pakistan scheduled to tour Bangladesh for a Test and one-day series from mid-April the Chairman of the board Shaharyar Khan held a final round of consultations in Karachi on Saturday to reach a final decision on the new captain and national selection committee. Ironically Azhar has not played an ODI since early 2013 when he played in Kolkata but apparently the support he got from captain Misbah-ul-Haq and coach Waqar Younis turned the tide in his favour. Chief selector Moin Khan also met with the chairman for over an hour and was told in clear terms his tenure is over, leading to the former Test captain leaving the hotel in an angry mood.