Defender John Pantsil will be handed the captain’s armband on his return to the Ghana national team.

The 31-year-old has not played for the Black Stars since February’s international friendly draw with Chile due to his inactivity.

But a move to Israel with Hapoel Tel Aviv has revived his international career where he has been seeing regular first team action.

Pantsil is ranked third in the captaincy hierarchy behind John Mensah and Michael Essien.

He captained the team at the 2012 Nations Cup finals in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.

Ghana holds a 2-0 advantage over Malawi going into the crucial game to be played in Lilongwe next weekend.