Cricbeat

Zulqarnain Haider’s saga takes more twists after his latest interview published by “UK Time”, an Urdu Newspaper published from England. The newspaper has published an interview of Zulqarnain which he gave them before leaving England.

Zulqarnain said made number of shocking statements. He said if Pakistan is to listen my facts then everyone – corrupt players, management – will run away after listening to me, I have been trying to unmask the corrupt people but every time I try to do my family is given threats. Since 2004, I deserve the place in team but due to politics I am not selected.

While speaking on politics, he said that if I ever step foot in politics then I will join Pakistan Muslim League(N). The current government of PPP is supporting me only because where I reside, in Lahore, is one of strongholds of PML-N.

He further said that Waseem Bari, Ihtasham-ud-Din, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Naseem Ashraf and Waqar Younis were/are part of Kamran Akmal’s group. Kamran Akmal stays in team even after poor performance because he has backing of his group. Kamran Akmal’s father in law, named Ilyas, is reason behind match-fixing deals.

He also raised concerns on Shahid Afridi’s ball-biting incident in 5th ODI of Pakistan-Australia 2010 ODI series. He said in taunting and rhetorical way that why Shahid Afridi bit the ball like guava? He, Afridi, should first correct himself and concentrate on his performance. I, Zulqarnain, shut the mouth of Shahid Afridi and everyone is scared of me.

Speaking on teammates behaviour, he said I was abused by Umar Akmal on field during Pakistan-South Africa ODI Series in UAE and when I complained to Waqar Younis, he supported Umar Akmal and threatened me to sue on discipline issues.

He said that Younis Khan is the only corruption-free player in team and Rashid Latif was sidelined just because he speaks truth. He also claimed that Semi Final of WC’11 between Pakistan and India was fixed.

On the other hand, Dawn News reported Zulqarnain saying that I have given some important information regarding match-fixing to Interior Minister and assets of all the players should be scrutinized where income tax department can play an important role.

Interesting thing is that Zulqarnain mostly denies the news given by newspapers. But “UK Time” claims that they have the recording of Zulqarnain’s interview which they have published and interview is on record.