England captain Collingwood makes Pakistan favourites for WorldCall T-20 Challenge but says: "We believe we have got the skills and we believe we have got the players to win"

Pakistan's captain for this week's Twenty20 Internationals against England, Shoaib Malik, has admitted he does not want the job on a long-term basis.

And he believes fellow all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who is banned for Friday's first match of the double-header after being found guilty of ball tampering, is the best man for the role.

Speaking before the series opener Malik said: "For me, I would love to play for Pakistan as a player - I just want to do well for my country.

"My country needs me to do the captaincy for the coming two matches and it is a great honour if you are captain of your country.

"But I prefer to play just as a player more and I think Shahid Afridi is the right choice for this captaincy.

"We have been playing together for the past 11 years. I think he has the ability to gel the boys together and in my opinion he’s the right guy for the captaincy."

Malik stressed his view was a personal one and that it was not his decision but he added Afridi would have a positive effect on the dressing room even though he would not feature on Friday.

"If someone is sitting in your dressing room that is really good at Twenty20 and all forms of cricket then it gives confidence to others to be in that dressing room," he said.

"Unfortunately he's not going to be playing on Friday but he will play for us in the last game on Saturday and for us it’s a good thing that he'll be there on Friday."

England captain Paul Collingwood said he believed Pakistan will start as favourites for the WorldCall T-20 Challenge series, despite the fact his side won the last Twenty20 meeting between the two sides.

That was at The Oval last June in the ICC World Twenty20, a tournament Pakistan eventually won, and Collingwood said it would be wrong to read too much into that previous result.

"English conditions are totally different from here and we certainly go into the game as underdogs," he said.

"Pakistan have been a well-drilled Twenty20 unit over the last few years and I think the statistic is that they have won 21 out of 28 matches.

"That is some record they have got so we are going to have to play to the best of our ability to beat them."

However, despite conceding the favourite's tag, Collingwood still believed his side was more than capable of achieving two victories.

"We believe we have got the skills and we believe we have got the players to win," he said.

"We think we are improving all the time as a Twenty20 and One-Day International side and if we play well we can beat anyone on our day so it should be a good game."

Interestingly both sides come into the series off the back of losses to their respective A teams in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday but both captains were keen to play down those defeats and focus on the positives ahead of Friday’s opener.

Collingwood said: "It was good practice for us to get a game going down to the last ball," as he reflected on his side's five-wicket loss.

"It involved skills and thought-processes in the match which was perfect for us as a close game brings out decision-making and skill levels to their best.

"The A side deserved to beat us and they put us under pressure but there were areas of the match that we did really well in and we can take that into tomorrow’s game."

Malik commented on his side's seven-wicket defeat: "It was a practice match and we were focusing more on our batting and bowling (than the result).

"Everybody's up for the coming two matches.  The team is in good shape and we do have good youngsters getting this opportunity and I am sure they will do well."

The two matches are the last both sides will play in the shortest international format of the game before ICC World Twenty20 tournament in the Caribbean in April and May with Pakistan defending the title it won in the United Kingdom.

Tickets prices for the matches start at AED75 (Friday 19 February) and AED50 (Saturday 20 February) and go up to AED500 (Friday) and AED400 (Saturday) and they are now available through www.boxofficeme.com, www.ticketingboxoffice.com or by calling +971 4 367 6520.

Corporate hospitality packages are also available and details can be obtained by contacting Ms Ekta Hutton at Dubai Sports City on +971 4 425 1111.

Both matches start at 1800 local time with gates opening at 1500.