Mohammad Naveed, the UAE captain, has accepted that he was contacted by a match-fixer and he didn’t let the UAE cricket board know about that. Naveed, along with two other players of the UAE national cricket team, is facing the ICC charges for corruption. All three players are provisionally suspended at the moment.
The charges on Naveed say that not only did he fail to convey to the board about the approach made to him, he also agreed to fix the ongoing WT20 qualifiers.
Naveed, however, hasn’t accepted that he agreed to fix the matches. According to Naveed, an approach was indeed made to him and he kept it to himself rather than reporting it to the officials straightaway.
The ICC code of conduct clearly instructs a player that whenever he is approached by a match-fixer, he has to report it to his concerned board. If he doesn’t do that, he will be liable to punishment.
The story of Naveed’s potential involvement in match-fixing has shocked the cricket fans around the world. He has been a prominent figure in international cricket as well as in the leagues across the globe and carried a huge stature. It was only this year that he had been appointed the UAE captain as well.
“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.” Naveed was quoted saying by the National.
“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. My family is let down, my friends are let down. Everybody is let down. This was my mistake.” Naveed added.
Naveed has so far played 40 ODI and 30 T20I matches for the UAE national cricket team.
