Zulqarnain Haider

Zulqarnain Haider Biography
Zulqarnain Haider

Pakistan

Full Name: Zulqarnain Haider

Date of Birth: Apr 23, 1986, Lahore

Major Team: Pakistan, Lahore Blues, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, Pakistan Under-19s, Rawalpindi

Playing Roll: Wicket Keeper

Batting Style: Right

Zulqarnain Haider  is a former Pakistan under 19's wicketkeeper and currently plays for the Pakistan national cricket team. He is generally regarded as being the reserve keeper to Kamran Akmal. The right hander represents both Lahore Blues and Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited in Pakistani domestic cricket.

There was a time when it was not at all certain that Zulqarnain Haider, a tall and lanky wicketkeeper from Lahore, would ever build on his debut, which came in a heavy loss in a Twenty20 against South Africa in February 2007. But after some good domestic results he found a place on the 2010 England tour as Kamran Akmal's understudy, and when the senior keeper's lapses became too frequent, Haider was given a Test debut at Edgbaston. He was out to his first ball feathering a catch behind, but his characterful and determined 88 in the second innings formed the basis of a fightback.

That innings was testament to his character as his road to the top has been made in difficult personal circumstances. He took part in the Under-15 World Cup in England in the summer of 2000 at the age of 13. Four years later, at the Under-19 World Cup in Dhaka, he scored a vital 23 not out from 18 balls, and claimed three catches, as Pakistan took the title in the final against West Indies.

A broken finger after his Test debut ruled him out for the remainder of the tour and then his career appeared to come to an extraordinary, and worrying, end when he fled the one-day series against South Africa in UAE for London claiming he had received death threats following the fourth ODI. He sought asylum in London fearing for his safety, but returned to Pakistan eventually in 2011.

In his first public comments since fleeing from Dubai and arriving in London on Monday, Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider has confirmed that he received threats from unidentified people following his team's one-wicket win in the fourth ODI against South Africa and was told to get in line for the fifth match. As a result of the threats Haider - who is seeking some sort of protection in the UK - has announced his retirement from cricket.

"The way my situation is right now I am retiring from international cricket," Haider (24) said. "There is too much pressure on me, I have received threats, my family has received threats."

The issue of threats brings the matter within the ICC's purview, and its chief executive Haroon Lorgat said the governing body was in regular contact with the PCB. "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," said Lorgat. "We understand his plight if reports are indeed true, but we can only help if he is willing to engage with us."

Lorgat did concede, though, that Haider erred in not informing the ACSU. "I think we have to build the confidence amongst the players that the right thing to do is to speak to the ACSU officials if they have got anything that they want to declare," he told ESPNcricinfo. "I don't think it was wise of him to have done what he did, because it doesn't solve the problems for him as well and the right thing would have been to speak to the ACSU."

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Zulqarnain Haider 88 vs England 2010(HD)

Zulqarnain Haider in Bar