LAHORE, Jan 15: It is likely that prolific batsman Younis Khan will be leading Pakistan in the absence of an unfit Shoaib Malik during the forthcoming One-day International series against Zimbabwe.

Although Malik did attend the first day of the short training camp at the Gaddafi Stadium on Tuesday, he still had a bandage on his left ankle, which has been giving him trouble since after the first Test against India in November.

“I will only play if I’m 100 per cent fit. If not, I may prefer leaving the series against Zimbabwe,” Malik told reporters after attending the first session of the camp.

“It does not seem fair for a half-fit player to play for his country,” the captain said.

“I have started gym training, running and cycling but will ultimately be following doctor’s advice about whether I should resume playing in the series against Zimbabwe,” he added.

Saying that it was the PCB policy that the fast bowlers show full match-fitness in next month’s Pentangular Cup, Malik refused to make any comments on the omission of Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul from the series. He said Pakistan already had two other fast pacers, Sohail Tanvir and Rao Iftikhar, as backup.

“Both Sohail and Rao are improving day by day and hopefully they will help the team beat Zimbabwe,” he added.

Pakistan would be introducing one or two new youngsters in each match in the current series, according to Malik.

“I don’t consider Zimbabwe an easy side as they have only defeated Australia and the West Indies in recent months,” he said.

Meanwhile, sources said that the PCB has spoken to Younis about leading against Zimbabwe to which he has shown his consent.

“Younis is PCB’s first option since it was under his captaincy that Pakistan drew two Tests against India in the last series after losing the first one under Shoaib Malik,” sources said.

Although Misbah-ul-Haq’s consistently good performance in the last six months has brought him into notice too, it would be rather premature to name him as captain for the job right now.

Shoaib, who was named skipper after Inzamam-ul-Haq quit the post in the backdrop of a dismal performance in the 2007 World Cup, has remained under constant criticism after losing the Test and ODI series to South Africa at home and to India away.

However, under Malik’s captaincy, Pakistan qualified for the Twenty20 World Championship final where they lost to India. Still despite poor results and the criticism, the PCB has retained Malik as captain till Dec 2008.