http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zulqarnain-Haider-c98685 Comes Out of Retirement, Reaffirms Resolve to Play for Pakistan
Pakistan’s renegade wicketkeeper, Zulqarnain Haider, on Thursday, reversed the decision of his retirement and made himself available for selection in the national team.
Talking to the media from his home in Pakistan’s city of Lahore, the runway wicketkeeper said, “I am available for selection in any format of the game, I have decided to abandon retirement and will soon meet http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 Cricket Board (PCB) officials once I
get clearance to go out of my home.”
However, according to an official of the PCB, Haider will have to give answers to many questions regarding the series of events that took place, beginning from the time he decided to ditch his national team.
According to the official, after receiving a proper clarification from Haider, he will be given an opportunity to meet the PCB chairman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128. It is only then, when the PCB will seriously start considering the resumption of Haider’s cricket career.
On the other hand, speaking on the explanation demanded by the PCB, the lanky cricket said, “I have also replied to their letter and hope everything has now been cleared up."
After reaching back to Pakistan from England, Haider clarified that he had not retired from first class cricket and was eager to play for his department in Pakistan’s domestic season.
Last month, Haider returned to Pakistan after living in self-exile for nearly five months in England. His comeback became possible after he held an in-depth meeting with Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik in London. The player informed the minister
of the actual threats that existed to his life if he returned to Pakistan.
He was assured by Malik to be provided with state level security in case he chose to return to Pakistan. The bowler was also convinced by Pakistan’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Wajid Shamsul http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hasan-c61990 to return back to the country.
After receiving assurances from top level government representatives, Haider finally decided to ditch his effort to seek asylum in the United Kingdom and return back to Pakistan. However, he received threat calls from Pakistan from unknown personnel who
warned him from returning to his native country. Nonetheless, he refused to change his plans and finally landed in Islamabad on 25 April, 2011.
Later the culprits who had threatened Haider of dire consequences in case he returned to Pakistan were arrested by Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sialkot-c842.
Earlier in November, Haider while playing for Pakistan disappeared right before the fifth match of the five-match one-day series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033. Later he resurfaced in England and in a press conference disclosed that he
had received life threats from an unknown bookie to lose the fourth and fifth match of the series. After refusing to comply, he chose to slip to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 to save his life.
This caused an embarrassing situation for the PCB and was immediately stripped from his central contract, later the cricket board banned him from playing for Pakistan.
It is still not clear how the PCB will not react after getting the full account of the situation Haider was in during this whole debacle. It will also be difficult to suggest how the rest of the Pakistan squad will react to Haider’s inclusion (if he is cleared
by the PCB) in the national team after he without taking any names alleged the involvement of some players in match-fixing.
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