A blind date

As there might be with a blind date, there is both excitement and trepidation at the announcement of Shoaib Malik as the 25th man to captain Pakistan.

At 25, he is still young in years and in that sense, it is a progressive appointment. Seniority and hierarchy matter in Pakistan, and choosing captains is generally a pragmatic decision based on the best or most-established player in the side, rather than the best leader. Few recent captains have been young.

The World Cup brought to an end one dark, jaded mini-period, so starting again, with a new, fresh-faced captain has a good feel about it. South Africa did something similar four years ago, and on balance of where they are now, probably don't regret it. Youth will anyway have its day so why not now?

Gauging a leader of men is not simple. Weight of runs, wickets or all-round performances, as Andrew Flintoff and Ian Botham among others discovered, does not a captain make. Something more is needed, something not easily seen, something that is properly visible only after a captain captains.

That much-loved phrase 'the best captain that never was' is actually an empty one; unless a player is or has been one, nobody can ever know how good a captain he can be. Until Malik leads his men out, makes a bowling change, a slight fielding adjustment, a testing declaration, or battles through poor form, through on-field crises, or rallies ten wildly different personalities around him, the jury will be out.

That the appointment of the second Malik to captain Pakistan is not as bold as it may initially appear is key. He hasn't been discussed by this administration alone as an option, but by the one before it as well. Inzamam-ul-Haq, Wasim Akram and Imran Khan - albeit cautiously - have repeatedly cited his sharp cricketing brain and selfless attitude as signs of potential leadership, as did Bob Woolmer. You have to think, between all of them, they must know something.

But, as ever, history tugs at optimism. On the rare occasions Pakistan have flirted with young captains, especially in a team of seniors, disaster has been the result. Malik is not as young as were Javed Miandad (22) and Javed Burki (24) when they became captains but is close enough.

Both had miserable experiences: Burki oversaw, in a 4-0 loss in England in 1962, one of Pakistan's worst tours in their early years. Miandad, made captain in 1980, fell to a revolt by his own players two years and 13 Tests later. Wasim Akram was 26 when he first took on the captaincy, yet five Tests later, his own players had forced him out.

Even considerable experience couldn't save Akram and Miandad. The former's first Test as captain was his 46th overall, while the latter's was his 28th Test. Crucially, both were established players already.

Malik's first Test as captain will only be his 19th (over five years). Though lately, he has become a regular of sorts, nobody would argue that he is an established indispensable, as he is in the shorter form of the game. And in neither form of the game do we know his ideal position in the order. Captaincy can make a player or break him and Malik is no exception.

As with Akram and Miandad, there is also a fear that senior players - an ominous phrase only in this context - might not take so readily to Malik. Intikhab Alam voiced these very concerns and the signs are already present; when asked publicly, a number of players said they were willing to accept the captaincy if offered. Privately, many are believed to have expected it to be offered to them. Will they be entirely happy with a younger, less established player in charge?

How he handles his men off the field, in the dressing rooms and in hotels, may well be the key to what happens on the field. It initially escaped men of Akram and Miandad's stature, though both came back to become two of the most successful captains Pakistan had.

There is not much that Malik has not done on a cricket field. He has remarkable adaptability; Test opener one day to middle-order battler next; one-down ODI organiser today, lower-order slogger tomorrow; he has been re-invented many times. Most of it he has done with minimum fuss and due efficiency, some of it outstandingly well. He now has another role to fill. It is, by a country mile, the most challenging one yet.