Malik a loner: report

Pakistan's humiliating defeat against Sri Lanka in the one-day series last month forced the removal of captain Shoaib Malik, rubbished as a "loner" who lacked leadership, a report said Monday.
Malik was replaced by senior batsman Younus Khan after Pakistan suffered their worst ever one-day defeat -- by 234 runs -- in the third and last one-day match in Lahore, handing the visitors a 2-1 win in the series.
"We found Malik a loner, aloof and involved in his own little world, which is okay, but not when the team required a fully committed captain which he wasn't," wrote coach Intikhab Alam and manager Yawar Saeed of Malik.
The confidential report, prepared as part of an inquiry initiated by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) into the defeat, was made public at a senate committee meeting on Monday.
Malik, Alam, Saeed and chief selector Abdul Qadir gave their point of view in the marathon session.
The report said Malik lacked leadership qualities.
"We do not see any meaningful communication between players and captain other than Malik's five-minute talk during the team meeting. Such meetings are necessary," the two team officials wrote in their report.
"Malik also did not spend quality time with his players, which a successful captain must do. He also lacked in that."
The report said Malik -- appointed captain after Pakistan's first-round exit from the World Cup held in the West Indies in March 2007 -- did not have the confidence of his players.
"To be honest, it is very evident that the team is not looking up to their captain. We believe that this team... needs a new leader so we suggested the name of Younus Khan which came to the mind when we looked around in the team."
The report also said the team needs a specialist spinner and showed lack of confidence in wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal's performances.
"The team needs to play a specialist spinner in both forms of the game and suggest that Danish Kaneria should be considered for both forms of the game -- Tests and one-day.
"No doubt Akmal has done a very good job as a keeper and a batsman but we feel that at times his keeping is not up to the mark."
"We have suggested these facts to improve team's overall performance."
Malik refused to comment on the report.
"I will not comment on the report which is the opinion of coach and manager. I take responsibility of the defeat and now feel that I can perform better as a player than as a captain."