Shoaib Malik's [Images] rein as Pakistan's skipper may be cut short after the team returns from the so-far disastrous tour of India.

Malik, who was appointed captain until December next year, and coach Geoff Lawson will be under the scanner of the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) governing body next month, a board official said on Sunday.

"There is no guarantee that the governing body, if unhappy with the team performances, will allow Malik and Lawson to complete their terms," a PCB source said.

Lawson has a two-year contract with the PCB which ends in August, 2009.

"Don't be surprised and neither should the PCB Chairman (Nasim Ashraf) be surprised if the governing body starts asserting itself from the next meeting.

"There is a feeling among the representatives of the associations that for too long the board has run on ad-hoc basis with no system of accountability at any level for anyone in the board," the source said.

Shafqat Naghmi, the PCB's chief operating officer, confirmed that the team's performance would be reviewed on January 9 when the governing body holds its second meeting.

The governing body was constituted in October under the new PCB constitution and at its first meeting it ratified Ashraf's suggestion to appoint Malik as captain until the end of 2008.

But Naghmi said after every series the governing body had the authority to review the team's performance and it would do the same after the Indian tour.

Pakistan has already lost the one-day series and is struggling to save the Test series at the moment.