UAE captain Naveed among three charged with corruption

DUBAI: United Arab Emirates captain Mohammed Naveed was on Wednesday charged with corruption ahead of the World Twenty 20 qualifiers and admitted: “I have let everybody down.”

Naveed was one of three UAE cricketers charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Batsman Shaiman Anwar and right-arm pace bowler Qadeer Ahmed have also been charged by the ICC, the three players facing a total of 12 counts of breaching the governing body’s anti-corruption rules.

All three have been provisionally suspended with immediate effect and axed from the UAE squad for the 2020 World T20 qualifying event which starts in Dubai and Abu Dhabi on Friday. “My family is let down, my friends are let down. Everybody is let down. This was my mistake,” 32-year-old Naveed told a local daily.

“I am very sincere about my game, I am very sincere about my career. I have been successful for the UAE around the world, in leagues, for franchises. That is because I am very sincere about my game. Now this has happened, I feel guilty. Why did I not talk to the board, why did I not talk to the ICC? It is my mistake, and I feel guilty.”

Naveed said he had blundered in failing to report an approach made to him by “a fixer” who had pretended to be an official representing a franchise in the T10 League also slated for the UAE in November. He said he ended the conversation as soon as he realised he had been misled, but admitted he did not report the approach to the ICC.

A fourth individual, Mehardeep Chhayakar, was also charged for refusing to cooperate with the ICC. “Three UAE players and a participant in cricket from Ajman have been charged with 13 counts of breaching cricket’s anti-corruption rules and the players have been provisionally suspended with immediate effect,” the ICC said.