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ICC has met Zulqarnain and is ready to help

DUBAI - The International Cricket Council (ICC) has met wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider and said it would help the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in a probe into his sudden exit to Britain where he is seeking asylum.

The 24-year-old flew to London this week and said on Tuesday he was seeking asylum because he feared for his safety after being ordered to cooperate with match-fixers.

Zulqarnain also announced his international retirement after saying he was approached by a person who asked him to fix the recent fourth and fifth one-day internationals against South Africa.

‘We have met with the player and we are engaged in following up with the PCB,’ ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat told a news conference in Dubai on Wednesday.

‘Clearly this is in the first instance a team matter for Pakistan cricket but the ICC is willing to provide assistance to the PCB and the player,’ Lorgat said earlier on the governing body’s website.

‘We understand his plight if reports are indeed true.’

Zulqarnain, who hit the winning runs in the fourth one-day match on Friday, left the Pakistan team hotel shortly before the fifth game on Monday which was won by South Africa to clinch the series 3-2.

He landed in London hours after leaving Dubai and spent almost four hours locked in discussions with immigration authorities.

SURPRISE DEPARTURE

Speaking about his decision to leave, Zulqarnain said: ‘I was told to cooperate or I would face a lot of problems.

‘This person approached me while I had gone out of the hotel for dinner. He told me, ‘cooperate with us and you can make a lot of money.

‘He said, ‘if you don’t cooperate you will no longer be part of the team and we can make life very difficult for you’.’

Zulqarnain was a member of the Pakistan squad whose tour of England this year degenerated into chaos when test captain Salman Butt and opening bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were suspended following spot-fixing allegations.

A newspaper report said the trio had arranged for deliberate no-balls to be delivered in the fourth and final test against England.

‘We are very sympathetic to the issues that Pakistan cricket is challenged by and we are providing all the support we possibly can and will continue to do so,’ Lorgat told reporters on Wednesday.

The ICC’s Anti-Corruption and Security Unit upheld the suspensions on Butt and Amir after the pair appealed.

Asif withdrew his appeal in order to give his lawyers more time to prepare their case.

The innocence or guilt of the three players, who have all denied wrongdoing, will be judged at an independent tribunal.

Lorgat said the date of the tribunal had not yet been set.

Pakistan manager Intikhab Alam said Zulqarnain’s sudden exit was a surprise.

‘He never spoke to me about any of this. I am not a magician to know what is going on in the mind and heart of a person,’ Intikhab said.