Why Pakistan wicket-keeper Zulqarnain Haider should not be taken seriously!
Not many, except a few people in Greece and the Greek expatriates in different parts of the world, know the country dialing code of Greece. Yet the wife of Zulqarnain Haider - http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755’s wicket-keeper who left the cricket team hours before the grand finale
against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 - knew that the threatening call she received on her cell came from Greece. There are many languages spoken in Greece, yet Urdu may not be one of them. We know that, you know that, but it’s a fact that Zulqarnain’s wife didn’t know.
There are a million reasons why the case of Zulqarnain Haider shouldn’t get the coverage it has been getting ever since the glovesman left UAE. He has not been a part of the national team for long, he would have been dumped had he not scored the winning
runs in the series-levelling win against South Africa, and his wicket-keeping was at par with Kamran Akmal - the team needed someone better.
Every time the wicket-keeper changes or updates his status on Facebook, he gets the ‘News Flash’ coverage in international media. Be it Pakistan, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, England or any other test playing nation, he has achieved iconic status due to his off-the-field antics.
Indian media gives him coverage as they feel he will bring Pakistan cricket down, English media feels his story has power to sell while Pakistan’s media has nothing else to do than to blame the cricket setup for everything from Tsunami to earthquakes.
That is why the officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board submitted a report into former wicket-keeper Zulqarnain Haider's 'The Great Escape' without any fanfare. They know that the coverage Zulqarnain is getting is temporary and once it will be made known
that he knows absolutely nothing, things will settle for good.
Although the 24-year-old claims to have received death threats from unknown people to influence the results of matches, he has no proof as to how and where the threats the were made. No one even saw him with suspicious people let alone book makers in Dubai.
Most importantly, he could have done much more by staying in Dubai rather than flying to London since the International Cricket Council has its offices in Dubai. The Anti Corruption Unit would have loved to listen to what he had to say, no matter how bogus
the claims would have been.
As soon as he reached England, Haider retired from international cricket and sought asylum in Britain. The board terminated his contract as expected and formed a three-man committee, headed by team manager Intikhab Alam, to establish the facts surrounding
his sudden and strange disappearance. The committee submitted its findings on Monday and it seems that the board will take action on these recommendations in the coming weeks.
While the drama was unravelling in Pakistan, Zulqarnain was updating his status, asking the government to provide protection to his family. He also threatened to name several players in the next five days who took money to fix matches, as if he knows. Zulqarnain
may have been a good wicket keeper and an even better batsman, but making tall claims will land him no where.
Zulqarnain faces severe punishment for violating ICC ethics by not telling the council he was asked to influence match results for money. He faces PCB inquiry for leaving the team when he knew there was no other wicket-keeper in the squad. He will have a
tough task to convince the British authorities to get a political asylum. He should try to focus on getting a political asylum in England for the threats he has received so far and leave the telltale. Because in order to be a story teller, one should be ready
for objections from those following the story. Right now, his defence is at its weakest.
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