Missing Pakistani Wicketkeeper

When the Pakistani cricket team was in England recently, there was uproar in the British media about the involvement of three Pakistani players in match fixing. Although despite many probes, even the Scotland Yard also jumped in, there was no concrete evidence found so far to affix blame on the Pakistani players. At that time, I wrote that we must protect our strategic assets against the underworld pressure tactics and save them from falling.

Perhaps like many other vows, that effort went waste, since today once again there headlines about Pakistani players – this time missing of the wicketkeeper from the hotel in Dubai. Zulqarnain Haider, - the hero hero of Pakistan's victory in the fourth ODI with South Africa, is said to have collected his passport last night and has been missing from his hotel room since six in the morning.

Now this is something unbearable. What was the security officer of the Pakistan doing? Sleeping in his room so that anyone could sneak out at liesure? Why was he handed over his passport last night? Didn’t warning bells sounded in the ears of the team manager and the security officer?

At the time of posting this write-up, there is news that Haider has aired him being threatened by someone to lose the last match. Haider is said to have told some friend of his that he was going to England instead of Pakistan. Even the team manager Intikhab Alam has been quoted as saying that he knows the whereabouts of the missing player – why doesn’t he tell where? While this jigsaw puzzle could have been a good input for Agatha Christie to write a new mystery book, but not for Pakistan in any case.

We have the habit of repeating our mistakes many times and make sure that these cause us maximum harm before there is no room is left for more harm to come. The missing of an ace players seems to be height our ignorance about matters related to our players’ security and leaving them at their own to succumb to the pressures which they bear all alone. For God sake get up and open your eyes – everyone….

Related Link: Protecting our strategic assets

PS: 8^th Novemebr (after the the 5^th ODI) Well the sudden leaving of Haider did make the difference in the fifth ODI between Pakistan and South Africa on 8^th November at Dubai as Pakistan lost by 57 runs, which made the South Africans won by 3:2. So now it is to be seen whether someone threatened him or promised him “some other mans” to skip the ODI so as to brighten the chances of South African squad to win or he left the team due to some fears. In both ways, his absence made the same desired effects for the South Africans. Time will tell

Posted in: Agatha Christie,Cricket,Dubai,ODI,Sports,Wicketkeeper