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Pakistan will announce a captain for the World Twenty20 in the next couple of days, as speculation grows over the identity of the man in the wake of meetings the board chairman Ijaz Butt is said to have had with a number of players.

On Friday, the selection committee had taken the unusual step of naming a 15-man squad for the defense of the world title without appointing a captain, and over the weekend Butt is reported to have met four candidates: Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq and Salman Butt.

Virender Sehwag has won the Test batting prize for the second year running in the ESPNcricinfo Awards. Sehwag’s audacious 293 against Sri Lanka in Mumbai was chosen over Andrew Strauss’s 161 at Lord’s in the Ashes and Chris Gayle’s unbeaten 165 in Adelaide, by a jury of former cricketers, commentators and Cricinfo’s senior editors.

The six awards, for performances in the three international cricket formats in 2009, were shared between players from three countries: India, Pakistan and West Indies. Gayle won the Twenty20 batting award for his 50-ball 88 against Australia at The Oval in the World Twenty20. His West Indies team-mate Jerome Taylor’s rout of England in Jamaica was voted the Test bowling performance of the year.

Three series-winning performances, and two inspired efforts that derailed Australia comprise the ODI bowling shortlist of 2009 for the ESPNcricinfo awards. Pace and spin both feature prominently in the nominations, four of which are hauls of five wickets or more and also include a hat-trick.

Shahid Afridi bagged the second best figures in 2009, taking 6 for 38 in Dubai in an uncharacteristic Australian collapse, where eight wickets fell for 27. The display won Pakistan the game, though the series was eventually lost. Harbhajan Singh’s 5 for 56 in the Compaq Cup in Colombo, in the wake of a blistering reply by Sri Lanka’s batsmen in their chase, ended India’s long struggle in tournament finals.

Shoaib Malik, Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain for the two games against England, has said he has no interest in leading the side and would prefer to play and perform as a normal member of the side. Malik was made captain by the board following the banning of regular leader Shahid Afridi for two matches after he was found guilty of tampering the ball during an ODI in Australia.

Shahid Afridi’s ‘biting the ball’ incident during the fifth ODI between Australia and Pakistan in Perth may have raised a furore and led to a two-match ban but former England captain Tony Greig believes ball-tampering has been prevalent over the years.

“Some may choose to deny it but most bowlers have technically indulged in ball-tampering,” Greig told Cricinfo’s Time Out show. “Ball-tampering is one of cricket’s most open secrets and it has been for at least 50 years.”

Shahid Afridi has been banned for two Twenty20 internationals after being found guilty of ball-tampering during Pakistan’s two-wicket loss to Australia in the ODI at the WACA. Afridi, Pakistan’s captain in Twenty20 cricket, was charged with an article 2.2.9 offence of the ICC Code of Conduct which relates to “changing the condition of the ball in breach of Law 42.3 of the Laws of Cricket”.

Afridi, leading Pakistan in the absence of Mohammad Yousuf, was caught by TV cameras apparently biting the ball on a couple of occasions. This was reported to the on-field umpires by the TV umpire and, after a chat with Afridi, the umpires changed the ball.

Eoin Morgan believes he is still some way short of the finished article despite selling for US$220,000 to Royal Challengers Bangalore at the IPL auction on Tuesday. Morgan was the only England player to be awarded a new IPL contract, and he is now set for a handsome boost to his finances.

“When the bid came through I was delighted,” Morgan told Cricinfo. “I was very nervous beforehand. I made a deal with my housemate that he would watch it and I would try and sleep through, but inevitably I woke up 10 minutes before I was due. Though I didn’t want to watch it, I ended up following it on Cricinfo.”

The PCB has hit out at the IPL’s organisers after none of the Pakistan players were sold in the auction held in Mumbai on Tuesday. There were 11 players, including proven Twenty20 performers like Shahid Afridi and Umar Gul, up for grabs but the eight franchises stayed clear of any bids.

Ijaz Butt, the PCB chairman, said, “We are highly disappointed because we were hoping they (Pakistan’s players) would play.”

Following the one-sided affair on Thursday, there was little to separate the two sides tonight as Pakistan overcame a spirited New Zealand fightback to sweep the Twenty20s 2-0 at the Dubai Sports City. A half-century stand between Scott Styris and Brendon McCullum kept New Zealand in the hunt, but all along, Pakistan held a slight edge. New Zealand focussed on keeping wickets in hand, but unfortunately though, they left a little too much to do in the end as Pakistan sneaked home by seven runs and equalled the world record of seven consecutive Twenty20 wins with South Africa.

A clinical Pakistan maintained their perfect Twenty20 record against an injury-ravaged New Zealand by strolling to a 49-run victory. Imran Nazir smashed his first half-century in limited-overs since returning from the ICL and some swinging from the lower order pushed the target to a tough 162. The spin pair of Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal had confounded New Zealand’s batsmen in the one-dayers, but the match was settled even before they came into the attack today.