I also got threats in domestic cricket: Haider

Tue, Nov 09 10 09:51 PM

Karachi, Nov 9 (PTI) Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider, who today quit international cricket over death threats for refusing to cooperate with match-fixers, claimed that he also received threats while playing in domestic cricket also. In an interview to ''Geo News'' today, Haider said he had also received threats to include certain players in his team in domestic matches. "Yes I have got threats that I should play so and so player or not play that player and over matches," he said. Interestingly, Haider was removed as the captain of the Lahore Eagles team in March last year just before a match against National Bank in a domestic one-day tournament that later became a talking point in the cricket community. Apparently, Haider, who had led the Lahore team in the national one-day competition until that match, refused to be part of a conspiracy to "fix" the game as National Bank, one of the strongest and most influential teams on the domestic circuit, needed to win it and also improve their run-rate to qualify for the final. What transpired in the match was highly debatable as the Lahore team first scored 122 in 40.3 overs, with Haider getting out for a duck and then National Bank responded with 123 for no loss in only 6.1 overs. Salman Butt, who is currently suspended by the ICC for his alleged role in the spot-fixing scandal in England in August, scored 92 from just 25 balls hitting an amazing 16 fours and four sixes at the LCCA ground. The talking point was that Lahore fielded a pace bowler by the name of Usman Sarwar who conceded 78 runs in three overs and that match remains his only game for Lahore to date. After the match it transpired that Haider was forcibly removed as captain by officials because he refused to go according to the script and field the rookie Usman Sarwar. Although there were media reports and questions raised over the legality of the match because of its inexplicable finish the Pakistan Cricket Board later said it had found no evidence of foul play in the match in which Kamran Akmal, Muhammad Aamer and Wahab Riaz also featured for the bankers. National Bank qualified for the final and were beaten in by PIA in the summit clash.

Source: Published>