While Misbah Ul Haq and Shahid Afridi, the two men who have retired from ODIs following the World Cup, will continue to lead the test and T20 teams respectively, the PCB is in a fix regarding who will be Pakistan's next ODI captain.

Several names have been doing the rounds and everyone from Mohammad Hafeez to Shoaib Malik, Azhar Ali, Sohaib Maqsood, Wahab Riaz, and Sarfraz Ahmed have been named to be in some sort of contention for the post.

Pakistan's next series is against Bangladesh on 15th April so there isn't much time and a decision needs to be taken in the next 2 weeks or so.

It is not an easy decision by any means. No one was really groomed under Misbah as Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez served as deputies at different times under him. Afridi is gone, while Hafeez, who missed the World Cup due to injury, may only be a short term solution.

Here's our attempt at weighing the candidates and assessing their potential to captain Pakistan's ODI team.

Shoaib Malik

It is amazing how his name never seems to leave Pakistan's cricket circles despite having done absolutely nothing of note for 5 years now. Malik's previous captaincy stint was a disaster as he alienated senior players in his team and became a yes man to the then PCB Chairman. In my view, Malik is spineless and will do no good to the team by being a part of it. I believe he should be kept away from Pakistan cricket for good.

If the selectors feel that he deserves to be brought back then maybe, just maybe, a comeback to the middle order would be acceptable. But as captain? Absolutely not.

Wahab Riaz

He is the flavour of the month in Pakistan. He is Pakistan's new superstar, Pakistan's new poster boy. After 19 years of holding on to that mantle, Shahid Afridi finally passed on the baton in his last ever ODI.

Wahab Riaz had an outstanding World Cup. He won games single handedly, scripted victories for Pakistan with the ball, and gave Australia a scare like no one has. His stocks have risen tremendously after this World Cup, but a decision to make him captain will be an emotional one.

Between his 5-for in Mohali in 2011 and this World Cup, does anyone remember where Wahab was? He barely played for Pakistan during these 4 years as he was either out of favour or injured. Even when he played he was thrashed around like a school bowler. There were stories of him being a 'sifarshi', a 'parchi'; someone no one wanted in Pakistan's team. So much so that his inclusion in Pakistan's World Cup squad was also criticized.

A few good games does not make one a captain. Pakistan may have just found their next attacking weapon with the ball; there is no need to burden him with the captaincy. Let us and the cricket world get joy from his bowling while it lasts.

Sohaib Maqsood

I was surprised to hear that he was being considered. In fact his name had come up before the World Cup as well. He doesn't even captain in domestic cricket, hence my surprise. I doubt he is being considered seriously at this point given his below par World Cup performance. He still needs to work on his batting before he can be considered captaincy material in my opinion.

Azhar Ali

Once again I am not sure why his name is doing the rounds. He doesn't even play ODI cricket for Pakistan. The World Cup showed how far behind Pakistan's batting is compared to the rest of the world. At a time when Pakistan needs to find modern aggressive ODI batsmen, they can't go calling for Azhar Ali's inclusion in ODI cricket.

He is a valuable member of the test team and maybe even a future captain there, but he has no future as an ODI batsman, let alone a captain.

This brings me to the final two candidates - Mohammad Hafeez and Sarfraz Ahmed.

Hafeez has captained Pakistan already, as a full time captain of the T20 team and a stand in for ODIs and Tests. He was Misbah's deputy for the longest time and also captains in the domestic circuit. So he's got ample captaincy experience and he will be back to play ODIs for Pakistan as it was only the injury that kept him out.

Sarfraz Ahmed has captained Pakistan at the U19 level and has a successful U19 World Cup campaign on his CV. He has had a magnificent year in international cricket across all formats and has solidified his position as Pakistan's premier wicketkeeper batsman in tests, ODIs, and T20s. But is he ready to take over the team as captain?

This is what I think should be the plan.

Misbah will lead the test team for probably another year. Pakistan's next few scheduled test series include a tour to Bangladesh in April, a tour to Sri Lanka in july, a series against England and India in the UAE between October and January, and a tour to New Zealand in February. That is how far Misbah is probably looking at and that is how long he should be at the helm of test cricket for Pakistan.

Afridi has already announced that he will captain Pakistan's T20 team till next year's World T20, which will be played in India in March next year.

What this means is that in a year's time, Pakistan will be looking for a test and T20 captain as well.

There are only two cricketers in Pakistan that play all three formats with some sort of success - Sarfraz Ahmed and Ahmed Shehzad. And one of them should be captain across all those formats. No prizes for guess who it should be.

What I would urge PCB's Chairman to do is the following:

1. Call Misbah, Afridi, Hafeez, and Sarfraz in for a meeting.
2. Tell them that he is looking to appoint Sarfraz as captain for Pakistan's test, ODI, and T20 teams.
3. Tell Hafeez that he should captain the ODI team for that 1 year with Sarfraz as his deputy.
4. Tell Misbah and Afridi that Sarfraz will be their deputy as well in Tests and T20s.
5. Tell them all to support Sarfraz and groom him under their captaincy to the best of their abilities.

What this will do is that it would give Sarfraz some more time to learn the ropes under the best captains Pakistan has had in the past 5 years without putting any undue pressure on him. It will then give Pakistan a captain who can probably serve them for the best part of a decade.

That is the best way forward in my opinion.

A series victory typically covers up a team's weaknesses as the focus then lies on how the series was won, which players performed exceptionally, and generally how good the leadership and management was.

What I saw in the Kenya victory was a team that rallied around each other, a captain that led from the front, a middle order that collectively fired, and a happy bunch of cricketers enjoying every moment of the game.

That fun factor in a game is what has been missing from the Pakistan side for a long time. I don't think it was there during Inzamam's tenure, and it definitely was not there under the many captains that took over after Inzamam. We were playing good cricket under Inzamam but it was never a happy team.

This Pakistan side looks like a happy one. One that is having fun on the field and enjoying playing cricket with each other.

I saw that in the game against Kenya and that's why I thought it was a meaningful victory for Pakistan.

I thought at the time that if Pakistan can maintain this atmosphere in the dressing room and on the field then they can be a very tough team to beat.

We have been hearing all the media hype about how all the players are getting along, about how the seniors are putting their hand up and taking responsibility, and about how Waqar Younis and Afridi have managed to keep the team going despite all the controversies.

Glimpses of all this were visible during the Kenya game, but today against Sri Lanka even the performances spoke volumes and showed just how much responsibility the seniors are willing to take.

It was heartening to see the senior players, namely Younis Khan, Misbah Ul Haq, Shoaib Akhtar and the captain Shahid Afridi bring out the best in them to shut down Sri Lanka.

Younis and Misbah forged a partnership that was reminiscent of the many partnerships that Inzamam and Yousuf have had for Pakistan in the past; or even of the Imran Khan - Javed Miandad partnerships of 1992.

Younis and Misbah are the two senior batsmen in the team and they took the responsibility to guide the team during the middle overs against Kenya, and again against Sri Lanka today.

While, Shoaib Akhtar gave a performance that dismissed all speculation about his fitness. He bowled an opening 5-over spell, got a crucial wicket each time he was brought back for another spell, completed his quota of 10 overs, and was the most economical and effective bowler for Pakistan bar one.

Shoaib's determination to perform and dedication to this Pakistan team was visible throughout the day. The way he ran in, the way he sweat it out, the way he celebrated the wickets - you can see it that he is determined to show the world that he can still win matches for Pakistan.

Respect.

And finally, Shahid Afridi.

The man that matters the most.

The man that led from the front.

Against Kenya, and against Sri Lanka.

Many think that a 5 wicket haul against Kenya doesn't mean much and that Afridi is easy picking for the stronger opposition.

Today, he proved that his 5 wicket haul against Kenya was no fluke.

He bowled with guile, beat batsmen with his spin, and completely controlled every one of the 10 overs he bowled to the Sri Lankan batsmen.

The one that got Samaraweera was a beauty!

Today was undoubtedly one of the best I've seen Afridi bowl.

His captaincy may not have been spot on throughout the innings, but his involvement, control, and energy is more than enough to keep the other 10 players on their toes.

After two matches into the World Cup, Afridi is the leading wicket taker in the tournament, Misbah is the 2nd highest run scorer, and Pakistan is sitting pretty at the top of Group A - ahead of Australia, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand after just as many matches.

The best part about these two victories is that all the media hype about senior players taking responsibility, Pakistan being united, Waqar and Afridi working towards making the players gel well together is not just hype.

Its true as has been visible in the two matches that Pakistan has played and won.

If these senior players continue to perform this way then there is no stopping Pakistan at the ICC World Cup 2011.

Here are 7 points summarising what went down at today's Cricketer Auction.

Mohammad Yousuf - pending court case due to ICL contract cancellation.

Ashwell Prince - no one was interested.

Bollywood King Shahrukh Khan (Kolkata) - $6,072,500 for 11 players.

India Cements (Chennai) - $5,925,000 for 11 players.

Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad) - $5,885,000 for 11 players.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni - $1.5 million by India Cements (Chennai)

Andrew Symonds - $1.35 million by Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad)

These were the only 2 players who were bid for over a million. The others in the club are the ICON players:

Sachin Tendulkar - $1,121,250 by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance (Mumbai)

Saurav Ganguly - $1,092,500 by Shahrukh Khan (Kolkata)

Yuvraj Singh - $1,063,750 by Preity Zinta (Mohali)

Rahul Dravid - $1,035,000 by Vijay Mallya' UB Group (Bangalore)

Sanath Jayasuriya - $975,000 by Mukesh Ambani (Mumbai)

Ishant Sharma - $950,000 by Shahrukh Khan (Kolkata)

Irfan Pathan - $925,000 by Priety Zinta (Mohali)

Jacques Kallis - $900,000 by Vijay Mallya (Bangalore)

Brett Lee - $900,000 by Priety Zinta (Mohali)

$950,000 for Ishant Sharma - surely a talented boy but does he seriously command such a price after having played a handful of ODIs and Tests and no T20Is?

$900,000 for Jacques Kallis - undoubtedly one of the best test batsmen in the world, a decent ODI bat, but even his national team dropped him for the T20 world cup that was played in his home country. Is such a price justified?

$675,000 for Mohammad Kaif - Ignored by the national selectors for all forms of the game, untested at the T20 level, why were bidders so interested in him?

$375,000 for Matthew Hayden - are you kidding me? Australia's tour of Pakistan has been given as a probable reason but then team mate Lee who would also be touring fetched $900K!

$400,000 for Ricky Ponting - deserves more doesn't he? Strange that the bidders were not more interested.

$150,000 for Umar Gul - the leading wicket taker of the T20 world cup definitelt deserved more.

Shane Warne and Glen McGrath went for as low as $450,000 and $350,000 respectively.

David Hussey, Cameron White, and Yusuf Pathan, who collectively have international experience of a handful matches fetched bids of $675,000; $500,000; and $475,000 respectively. Looks like the bidders keep an eye on domestic cricket in other countries and their own. Well done.

Shahid Afridi bagged the highest bid ($675,000) for a Pakistani player ahead of Shoaib Malik, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif, Younis Khan, Umar Gul, and Kamran Akmal.