Pakistan cricket slumped to a new low with a young player, Haider Ali, who was on a tour of the United Kingdom with the country’s ‘A’ team — Pakistan Shaheen, was arrested by the Greater Manchester Police with sources confirming it was over a complaint by a girl, alleging rape. Haider Ali has been provisionally suspended by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), said a report.
Haider was arrested by Greater Manchester Police at the Beckenham ground where Pakistan Shaheens was playing against MCSAC on August 3, reports Telecom Asia Sports. “It’s apparently a rape case against a girl of Pakistani origin,” a source was quoted as saying in the report. The sources confirmed that the Greater Manchester Police had seized Haider’s passport but released him on bail.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said it will cooperate with the investigations and will give support to Haider to fight the case. In the meantime, the PCB has suspended Haider Ali till his name is cleared.
“We were told about this case and investigation. We have suspended Haider until the investigation is completed and will conduct our own inquiry in the UK,” a PCB spokesman told www.telecomasia.net.
“Haider was in tears after he was arrested from the ground and pleaded not guilty during the investigation,” said sources.
Pakistan Shaheens were on a tour of the UK from July 17 to August 6 and played two three-day games, which were both drawn, a three-match One-day series that they won 2-1.
Most of the players, except captain Saud Shakeel and Haider, returned from the UK on Wednesday. Shakeel stayed back in Dubai for personal reasons.
The 24-year-old Haider is a talented player who played two ODIs and 35 Twenty20 internationals for Pakistan, the last in the Asian Games two years ago. He played the Under-19 World Cup for Pakistan in 2020 in South Africa, from where India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal also emerged.
Haider was also suspended by the PCB for breaching Covid restrictions during the 2021 Pakistan Super League in Abu Dhabi, and as a punishment withdrawn from the team to England and the West Indies in 2021.
Sources said Haider was in the good books of newly recruited Pakistan white-ball head coach Mike Hesson, who was about to include him in the Pakistan team for the T20 tri-series in Sharjah later this month.
Pakistan has a history of players’ misbehaviour in the past. Three top players — Salman Butt, the then test skipper, Mohammad Amir, and Mohammad Asif were arrested on charges of spot fixing on the team’s tour of England in 2010. All three were jailed and banned for five years.
