The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday constituted a three-man panel to further investigate the case of Zulqarnain Haider, the runaway wicketkeeper who is now making effort to revive his international career.
A PCB spokesman told ‘The News’ that the Board has received a response from Zulqarnain to a show-cause letter issued by it to the player on December 6 last year, weeks after he fled to Britain from UAE where Pakistan were featuring in a one-day series against South Africa at that time.
Nadeem Sarwar, the PCB spokesman, said that a three-man disciplinary committee headed by Sultan Rana, PCB’s Director Domestic Cricket, will now look into the case. Wasim Ahmed, the security manager of the Pakistan team and Khawaja Muhammad Awais are the other members of the committee.
But the committee will only begin its proceedings early in June when Pakistan’s cricket team, which is currently in the Caribbean, will return home from Ireland after playing in a brief limited-overs series there.
“The committee will start its proceedings as soon as all concerned persons are available in Pakistan which will be soon after the return of the Pakistan team players and officials from the tour of Ireland,” said Sarwar.
Waseem was Pakistan’s security manager when Zulqarnain disappeared from the team hotel in Dubai just hours before their one-day game against the Proteas. Intikhab Alam, Pakistan’s team manager, is also expected to play an important role in the proceedings that will most likely decide Zulqarnain’s future as an international cricketer.
Meanwhile, well-placed sources told ‘The News’ that the Board believes that Zulqarnain has written nothing new in his response to the letter of explanation.
“He (Zulqarnain) has just repeated what he has been saying since deserting his team last November,” said a source. “The Board was expecting that Zulqarnain will come out with some new arguments to defend his conduct but was left disappointed with his response.”
Meanwhile, PCB has also announced that a ‘clearance’ letter sent by discarded Test legspinner Danish Kaneria has failed to satisfy the Board’s Integrity Committee.
“PCB today responded the 12th May letter sent Danish Kaneria,” said Sarwar.
“The supporting email he has sent was more than six months old and is already on the records of PCB. After taking legal opinion and after confirming with the ECB, PCB considers that said document fails to satisfy the requirements by PCB,” he added.
“Kaneria has been advised to provide the clearance certificate at the earliest.”
The Board had asked Kaneria to send them a certificate of clearance from Essex following his arrest by London police and eventual release last summer in a spot-fixing case.
Though Kaneria is Pakistan’s most successful spinner in Test history, he hasn’t played for the country since last summer. Keen to revive his career, Kaneria sent the PCB an email from Essex in which the club thanked him for his services and explained the reasons he was not being offered another contract. But the Board has rejected it saying that it wants something more concrete.
A PCB spokesman told ‘The News’ that the Board has received a response from Zulqarnain to a show-cause letter issued by it to the player on December 6 last year, weeks after he fled to Britain from UAE where Pakistan were featuring in a one-day series against South Africa at that time.
Nadeem Sarwar, the PCB spokesman, said that a three-man disciplinary committee headed by Sultan Rana, PCB’s Director Domestic Cricket, will now look into the case. Wasim Ahmed, the security manager of the Pakistan team and Khawaja Muhammad Awais are the other members of the committee.
But the committee will only begin its proceedings early in June when Pakistan’s cricket team, which is currently in the Caribbean, will return home from Ireland after playing in a brief limited-overs series there.
“The committee will start its proceedings as soon as all concerned persons are available in Pakistan which will be soon after the return of the Pakistan team players and officials from the tour of Ireland,” said Sarwar.
Waseem was Pakistan’s security manager when Zulqarnain disappeared from the team hotel in Dubai just hours before their one-day game against the Proteas. Intikhab Alam, Pakistan’s team manager, is also expected to play an important role in the proceedings that will most likely decide Zulqarnain’s future as an international cricketer.
Meanwhile, well-placed sources told ‘The News’ that the Board believes that Zulqarnain has written nothing new in his response to the letter of explanation.
“He (Zulqarnain) has just repeated what he has been saying since deserting his team last November,” said a source. “The Board was expecting that Zulqarnain will come out with some new arguments to defend his conduct but was left disappointed with his response.”
Meanwhile, PCB has also announced that a ‘clearance’ letter sent by discarded Test legspinner Danish Kaneria has failed to satisfy the Board’s Integrity Committee.
“PCB today responded the 12th May letter sent Danish Kaneria,” said Sarwar.
“The supporting email he has sent was more than six months old and is already on the records of PCB. After taking legal opinion and after confirming with the ECB, PCB considers that said document fails to satisfy the requirements by PCB,” he added.
“Kaneria has been advised to provide the clearance certificate at the earliest.”
The Board had asked Kaneria to send them a certificate of clearance from Essex following his arrest by London police and eventual release last summer in a spot-fixing case.
Though Kaneria is Pakistan’s most successful spinner in Test history, he hasn’t played for the country since last summer. Keen to revive his career, Kaneria sent the PCB an email from Essex in which the club thanked him for his services and explained the reasons he was not being offered another contract. But the Board has rejected it saying that it wants something more concrete.
