LAHORE: Legal issues are delaying runaway wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider’s chances of playing for
Lashings.
Club owner David Folb met Zulqarnain for the first time on return from Dubai and said that the legal hitch had put a possible move for the Pakistan wicketkeeper to Lashings on hold.
According to reports, Folb met Zulqarnain after returning from Abu Dhabi, where he was finalising details of the Kent club’s 2011 tour.
Although the Lashings chairman says the meeting was positive, he is concerned about the wicketkeeper’s residential status.
Zulqarnain applied for asylum in the United Kingdom after fleeing from the Pakistan squad during the series with South Africa in the United Arab Emirates last month, claiming he had been threatened by match-fixing ring.
Lashings immediately offered Zulqarnain a place in their squad for 2011, but Folb now admits the situation has become complicated.
“We were hoping to sign him and we thought we had a very good chance of doing a deal,” he said. “I spoke to his people and then called Zulqarnain himself before I went to Abu Dhabi and we agreed to meet when I got back.
“I did meet him face-to-face for the first time on Sunday night and he’s a lovely guy, but he’s obviously worried about his residential status and how long he’s going to be able to stay in the country.”
Folb did not rule out a deal, but said that the paperwork needed to be in place. “He is obviously very concerned with sorting out his work permit at the moment. We would also need to get clearance from the ECB to play him,” he added.
