Corruption crisis: UAE keeper Shabber flees to Pakistan

ABU DHABI: UAE wicketkeeper Ghulam Shabber has absconded from the Emirates squad in the midst of their T20 World Cup Qualifier campaign and is understood to have fled to Pakistan.

Shabber’s unexplained absence was noted at a team meeting ahead of the UAE’s match against Hong Kong, prompting an investigation into his whereabouts.Shabber was apparently located in Pakistan on Wednesday, but the reasons for his flight remain obscure. “We do know he is OK, and he has left the country. That is all we know so far. As to the reasons why, that is what we are trying to get to the bottom of,” UAE team manager Peter Kelly said.

Whilst the circumstances that prompted Shabber’s flight remain unclear, his disappearance comes amidst a deepening crisis that has seen four players pulled up on match-fixing charges and a fifth provisionally suspended by the Emirates Cricket Board in relation to an ICC Anti-Corruption Unit investigation into match-fixing.

The Emirates squad has now been reduced to just 13 players after skipper M Naveed, batsman Shaiman Anwar and seamer Qadeer Ahmed were charged with match-fixing offences ahead of the tournament alongside local player Mehardeep Chhayakar just days ahead of the first match. While Ashfaq Ahmed was provisionally suspended by the ECB despite no official charges having been brought.

Kelly stressed that Shabber “was not a part of the anti-corruption investigation” though the timing of his flight suggests his decision may not have been unrelated, with both those involved in fixing and whistleblowers having been subject to threats in the past.Shabber last appeared for the UAE in their opening match against Oman on October 18.