Pakistan’s runaway wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider talks to the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit
Pakistan cricket team’s controversial wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider has finally spoken with the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit and explained to them that he was not ready to go back to Pakistan as the threats to his life still exist.
A source in the Anti-Corruption Unit said that Zulqarnain told them exactly the same thing that he has been telling the media for days. The investigators of the Anti-Corruption Unit talked with Haider over the telephone from their
headquarters in Dubai.
Haider, in a press conference held in a local hotel in London, said that he feels that the threats to him are very real and advised the ICC that it should record all the players’ phones and record where they are going if the governing
body seriously wants to eliminate corruption from cricket.
Haider has been talking to different media outlets from all over the world about the agonizing time he had to face when he was getting threats from a person in Dubai. The player clearly seems to be under enormous stress and fear.
Haider has explained that he took this dramatic step as a last resort when he could not think of anything else. The threats were very serious and he could not risk the life of his family.
Zulqarnain Haider claims that there are a lot of people involved in match-fixing and he is willing to cooperate with the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit. Despite his claims, he has still not named anyone involved in match-fixing.
The ICC’s Chief Executive http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Haroon-Lorgat-c61719 said that the International Cricket Council is waiting for the investigation report of the Pakistan Cricket Board about the events leading to Zulqarnain’s actions. The ICC wants to give the
PCB full chance to launch its own investigation and submit the findings to cricket’s governing body.
The Anti-Corruption Unit’s talks with the Pakistani wicketkeeper have not been fruitful as the Unit is unable to identify the man who was threatening Zulqarnain. This is going to be a problem for Haider because if the Anti-Corruption
Unit can’t identify the man based on the information he shared with them, it is highly unlikely that the police will do any better.
Lorgat did not approve of Zulqarnain’s actions and said, “I don’t think it was wise of him to have done what he did, because it doesn’t solve the problems for him as well and the right thing would have been to speak to the Anti-Corruption
Unit.”
However, the International Cricket Council is willing to help the Pakistan Cricket Board and Zulqarnain Haider to resolve this fiasco.
The http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 Cricket Board has, nevertheless, refused to help Zulqarnain in his efforts to get asylum in the United Kingdom. The Board also suspended his central contract and has organized an investigating probe to look into the
matter.
Zulqarnain said that the reason he didn’t tell the Pakistan team management about his decisions was because he was afraid to trust anyone and also didn’t want to create problems for the team members and the team management.
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