Pakistan cricket was on Monday rocked by another major controversy when their young wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider went missing from the team hotel hours before the fifth and final One-day International against South Africa here.
Pakistan manager, Intikhab Alam told Geo News that he could confirm that Haider had not come to the ground with the team for the match.
“I can’t comment anymore on this issue right now,” he said.
The team’s liaison officer, Shah Afridi said that when they went to call the keeper as the team was preparing to leave for the ground, he was not present in his room at the Grand Hyatt Hotel.
The keeper was last seen leaving the hotel at around 6.00 in the morning by the team’s assistant manager, Shahid Aslam.
The mystery surrounding Haider further compounded when a cryptic message posted on his facebook profile said, “leaving Pakistan cricket because get bad msg fr 1 man fr lose the match in last game.”
Haider shone in the fourth match against South Africa two days back, hitting the winning stroke and scoring an unbeaten 19 to help his team level the five-match series 2-2.
The Pakistan team management in view of Haider’s absence made three changes in the squad for the final match, surprisingly bringing in senior batsman Muhammad Yousuf, Umar Akmal and Shahzaib Hasan in place of Haider, Asad Shafiq and Imran Farhat.
