LAHORE The Pakistan Cricket Board all appointed middle order batsman Misbah-ul-Haq as captain of the Test team for the South Africa series and retained Shahid Afridi as captain for the ODI and T20 team. Pakistan also recalled Tafeeq Umer and Mhammad Sami in the Test fold along with Imran Farhat who retained his place in the side to be another opener with Umer. Sohail Tanveer has also been recalled albeit his conditioned with his fitness. Former captains Younus Khan and Shoaib Malik were dumped due to lack of form and other problems. However, Muhammad Yousuf would play the role of Mr dependable in the middle with Misbah for the series. Waqar, a board source said, had stated that Afridi wanted senior players like Shoaib Akhtar and Abdul Razzaq in the team in spite of their fitness issues and was unable to keep the team united during the limited overs series against England in August-September. Pakistan lost both the Twenty20 games against England in Cardiff and later went down 2-3 in the One-day International series under Afridis leadership. Reports said that one of the prime reasons why Misbah has been recalled is because he could lead Pakistan if Butt agrees to sack Afridi as captain. However, a top official defended his selection saying that Misbahs recall is based purely on merit. Mohsin Khan, Pakistans chief selector, defended the decision to recall Misbah, who last played a One-day International in September 2009. The series will start in the UAE from October 26, 2010. Umer Gul, Tanvir Ahmed, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanveer and Abdur Rehman would form Pakistan pace attack. The PCB was in a fix on the appointment of the captain for the series and was struck in among certain names. There was some confusion over the captaincy issue because logically Afridi should have been named captain for the limited over series as he has led the team satisfactorily in the limited over matches this year, a board official said. He also pointed out that the board had indicated earlier while appointing Afridi as captain that he would continue till the 2011 World Cup. Younus candidature also came under consideration but was dropped because he has refused the job on three occasions and he cannot be trusted any more and that has left the board with fewer options. The other options available for Butt is then to appoint Afridi as test and one-day captain at the same time, the source said. The PCB, however, followed the foot-step of its previous boards as many times in the past, players dropped from the squad made their comeback as captain of the team. Test team for the series will be: Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Yousaf, Misbah ul Haq (captain), Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Danish Kaneria, Abdur Rehman, Zulquarnain Haider (WK) , Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed, Mohammad Sami, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir (subject to fitness).