Shabber jumps ship: Ghulam flees UAE, appears in Pakistan

UAE’s T20 World Cup Qualifier Squad is without another member after Ghulam Shabber left the country unannounced, failing to show up for a team meeting on Monday morning.

The ‘keeper was absent for UAE’s matches against Hong Kong and Jersey, popping up in Pakistan, the nation of his birth.

Concerned for Shabber’s safety, UAE staff reached out to emergency contacts and visited his residence to no avail. Just 13 players are left in UAE’s squad for the qualifier, with four suspensions derailing their home campaign.

Mohammed Naveed, Qadeer Ahmed and Shaiman Anwar were all stood down after breaching cricket’s anti-corruption code. Ashfaq Ahmed joined the three in corruption trouble, though according to reports Shabber was not part of the anti-corruption investigation.

Ghulam Shabber of UAE (middle) celebrates a wicket. (BD Crictime)

On the field, UAE lost to Jersey by 30 runs in Abu Dhabi today. They now sit precariously in fourth in Group B, with two wins and two losses.

It remains unclear if UAE will be able to bring in an emergency player for the rest of the tournament.

Visit our T20 World Cup Qualifier home page here!

Scorecard of UAE’s match with Jersey here.

Daniel Beswick

Co-founder and one of our #ECPod hosts, Daniel is currently helping on ICC's coverage via their digital client. Daniel has also commentated and presented on ICC.tv broadcasts for pathway events since 2019, and in a rare feat called action at both USA vs PNG and Namibia vs Oman ODI matches at WCL2 2019 on the same day. Daniel has also been a member of WBBL/BBL and Olympic productions at Channel 7, also supporting commentators and on-air talent for the network’s coverage.