Captain Mohammad Yousuf said there was one player who was disturbing the team’s unity, although he refused to name him.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s temporary Twenty20 captain Shoaib Malik said on Friday he wants his teammates to stop making excuses and work harder to compete in international cricket.

Australia whitewashed Pakistan in both their test and one-day series.

Captain Mohammad Yousuf said there was one player who was disturbing the team’s unity, although he refused to name him.

Players must “stop making excuses and try to win matches with hard work,” Malik said.

Malik will lead Pakistan in a two-match Twenty20 series against England in Dubai next week.

Regular Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi will miss the first game after he was banned for two Twenty20 matches for ball tampering during the fifth one-day international against Australia.

Afridi served the first match of his suspension against Australia, with Pakistan again the losing side.

The Pakistan Cricket Board made Malik captain for both games against England, despite Afridi being available for the second, for the sake of continuity.

Malik previously captained Pakistan in all forms of the game between 2007 and 2009 but said he does not want to take on the role permanently again.

“I am no more interested in the captaincy and will be happy to play as a player in the team,” Malik said.

“I have already told the PCB chairman (Ijaz Butt) that after the series (against England) I am not interested in captaining the side. I think Afridi should be the captain.”

The PCB has formed an inquiry committee to look into the defeats in Australia, with manager Abdul Raqeeb and Afridi scheduled to appear on Friday.

Coach Intikhab Alam and Yousuf will appear before the inquiry on Saturday.

Malik said he had requested the PCB chairman to also allow him to appear before the committee.

“There should be someone else to also report (to the inquiry committee) and put his point across to the inquiry committee members,” Malik said.

Pakistan came close to beating Australia in the fifth and final one-day international before losing by two wickets. Australia also fought back to beat Pakistan by just two runs in the sole Twenty20 fixture.

Yousuf was rested for the last ODI while Malik led Pakistan in the Twenty20 game in Afridi’s absence. The selectors did not name Yousuf in the squad for the shortest form of the game.