Pakistan keeper Haider goes missing in Dubai, said to be in UK

Pakistan cricket was on Monday rocked by fresh turmoil when their young wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider went missing from the team hotel, hours before the fifth and final One-Day International against South Africa, prompting  PCB to launch an enquiry into the incident.

A surprised Pakistan Cricket Board believes that the player may already have reached London.

"On Monday morning Haider left the team hotel without informing any member of the team and the management. Haider was in possession of his passport and there are indications that he has left for London," a PCB release said.

The release said PCB has informed the Dubai Police about Haider's disappearance.

"The Dubai Police was instantly informed and the information shared with Dubai authorities indicates Haider had left for London. PCB continues to monitor the situation and remains in contact with the authorities.

"A full inquiry will be held into the circumstances surrounding this incident and no further comments will be made until the facts are known," the release added.

Pakistan manager, Intikhab Alam had earlier said that he could confirm that Haider had not come to the ground with the team for the match.

Sources in the PCB confirmed his presence at the airport a couple of hours after saying he was missing from the team.

The PCB has also informed the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit as well as local security officials of Haider's disappearance.

"He is missing and we found this out in the morning when getting ready to come to the stadium. He did not say anything to the team management about this at all. We have initiated inquiries into the matter," PCB's general manager of media Nadeem Sarwar 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 am 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."

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A Geo News correspondent also received a similar message from Haider's mobile number which said he was "leaving cricket as someone is threatening him."

The SMS received on correspondent Sohail Imran's mobile phone said, "Match haar jao (Lose match)."

Later the wicketkeeper informed Geo News through another SMS that he was leaving for England and that security should be provided to his family in Lahore.

The PCB media manager Sarwar said Haider had obtained his passport from the team management a few days back, saying he had some urgent work with it.

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.

Geo News reported that police had reached the team hotel and was investigating the matter with the chairman of the Pakistan Board, Ijaz Butt also present in the hotel.

Zulqarnain's brother, Reza confirmed that when he last spoke to his younger brother he had mentioned that he was getting some threatening messages from an unknown person.

"He was worried and concerned about himself and his family's safety," Reza said.

He said Zulqarnain had informed that he started getting messages before the fourth match that Pakistan won to level the series 2-2.

Nadeem Sarwar told reporters that the team management had got in touch with the Dubai police and the ICC anti-corruption unit to find out if Zulqarnain had actually left the country from some airport for England.

Meanwhile, a senior police official, Rana Faisal of the Lahore police said that although the family of the wicketkeeper has not made any official complaint about getting any threatening messages, security was being provided  at their home.