Pakistan Wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider Quits International Cricket
One day after abandoning the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 team (prior to the 5th and decisive ODI between Pakistan and South Africa), wicketkeeper-batsman Zulqarnain Haider announced his retirement from International
cricket.
The 24-year-old, who hails from Lahore, left the Pakistan team on the eve of the fifth and final ODI against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 in Dubai and flew off to London where he has sought political asylum.
He also announced his retirement during a live telephonic interview with a Pakistani TV channel, claiming that he was not in the right frame of mind to contemplate playing for his national team in the wake
of the threats he received from an alleged member of the betting mafia.
While announcing his retirement, he shed light on the man who threatened him of dire consequences after if he did not link himself with the match-fixing mafia and underperform in the last match of the series.
He added that the meeting took place after the second ODI, yet he decided to stay quiet on the matter initially and only realised the gravity of the situation when he started receiving threatening calls.
"The way my situation is right now I am retiring from international cricket, there is too much pressure on me, I have received threats, and my family has received threats. When I went out of the hotel to
eat dinner once, he came up. He was alone but I felt there were two to three people behind him. I can describe him. He spoke Urdu but I cannot describe the accent accurately. He said you will make lots of money if you join us and help us. If not, then staying
in the team could be difficult and we can make things difficult for you. I don't know why I was approached and others weren't."
Zulqarnain played an important role in Pakistan’s win in the fourth ODI where he, along with Wahab Riaz, pulled the green shirts out of the mire and snatched a win from the jaws of defeat.
He was elated after playing the match-winning stroke and even prostrated on the ground in typical Islamic way to thank the Almighty for helping him.
But only 48 hours later, he had taken a drastic step that is set to jeopardise his international career - for that matter his cricketing career - as it is highly improbable that he would ever return to play a competitive match
as not many teams would be interested in playing him after his immature act.
Cricketing pundits in Pakistan were at odds to understand his decision; many believe that he was misguided and has worsened his case by leaving the team in the middle of a series where he being the lone wicketkeeper in the team
was a certain selection.
They feel that he should have approached the team management and apprised them of the situation or gone to the ICC, which has its headquarters in Dubai, the venue of the on-going series.
Some even felt that he was in need of psychological help and needed to be taken to a clinic as he perhaps overreacted to what might be a very trivial issue.
They feel that there is no justification whatsoever for his action and he must be held accountable and taken to task for tarnishing the image of the country.
It remains to be seen as to what the outcome of this latest debacle is; in the meantime, Pakistan cricket reels from one controversy to another.
The average fan of the game in the country is disappointed and fast losing his heart in what was once a way of life in the country - they have had enough (and who’s to blame them?)!
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