ICC suspends UAE trio for match fixing ahead of WT20 Qualifiers

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Wednesday announced that it has provisionally suspended three cricketers from the UAE national team ahead of the T20 World Cup 2020 qualifiers. In a major blow to the home side, UAE captain and fast bowler Mohammed Naveed is amongst the three who has been charged by the ICC to make an attempt in fixing and underperforming in certain matches for a large sum of money. The Emirates Cricket Board has also released a statement responding to the same.

ALSO READ | Andre Russell says T10 help do something very important for Cricket

Important players suspended

Earlier this week, Naveed had stepped down from captaincy and was removed from UAE's squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup qualifiers. It led to a lot of speculation, which now makes perfect sense as the ICC has officially charged him with two breaches which include - planning to fix or influence a game's result in the upcoming WT20 Qualifiers 2019 and not disclosing details of any approaches or invitations he had received to be part of the fixing. The ECB (Emirates Cricket Board) has appointed the ICC to enforce its Anti-Corruption Code for the upcoming Abu Dhabi T10 League as well and Naveed was also slapped with two similar charges in relation to the upcoming tournament.

ALSO READ | Indian Cricket: ICC plans India vs Pakistan warm-up match at T20 WC?

Alongside Naveed, top-order batsman Shaiman Anwar has also charged with two breaches which were of similar nature to that of Naveed's. Anwar was only going to contrive to fix matches in the T20 World Cup qualifiers and no charges in relation to the Abu Dhabi T10 were made. According to media reports, it is believed that Naveed and Anwar could have earned approximately a whopping $272,000 had they succeeded in executing the plan, which is said to have been created by an Indian origin bookie based in Ajman named Mehardeep Chhayakar aka 'Gary'.

The third player to be provisionally suspended is Qadeer Ahmed Khan, who has been charged with as many as six breaches of the code of conduct as he concealed information about an already completed series which happened this year alongside not disclosing details of any invitations he received from bookmakers. The three players have been suspended from the game indefinitely.

ALSO READ | Brian Lara: 'Viv Richards inspired me to be the cricketer I am today'

The Emirates Cricket Board responds

The ECB released a statement in which it condemned corruption in cricket and made evident its support for the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit (ACU). They made no further comments as they will wait for the ICC to complete all formalities involved in the case. The players have to respond to the charges by Wednesday, October 30. UAE will play Oman in their first match of the World T20 Qualifiers at 9 PM IST tomorrow.

ALSO READ | Women's Cricket: England's Gunn retires from international cricket