Captain Mohammed Naveed is one of three United Arab Emirates cricketers who have been charged with corruption, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Wednesday.
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. 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 in a statement.
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The UAE selectors offered no explanation earlier this week when Naveed was left out of the squad for the T20 World Cup qualifiers, replaced as skipper by spinner Ahmed Raza.
Naveed, a 32-year-old fast bowler who has played 39 ODIs and 31 T20s, has been charged on four counts revolving around match-fixing at the T20 qualifiers, which begin on Friday in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and the T10 League which takes place in Abu Dhabi in November.
Qadeer has been charged with six breaches of the ICC's Code relating principally to the series against Zimbabwe in April and the Netherlands in August as well as passing insider information to Chhayakar in the knowledge that “the information might be used for betting purposes”.
Shaiman faces two charges connected with fixing results in the forthcoming T20 qualifiers. The players have 14 days to respond to the charges.
The announcement came just two days before UAE hosts the 14-team qualifying tournament for next year’s ICC T20 World Cup in Australia.
Naveed was apologetic for his actions.
"I am very since about my game. I am very sincere about my career," he told 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's my mistake and I feel guilty."
"My family and friends are let down. Everybody is let down. This was my mistake."
A statement from The Emirates Cricket Board said: "The board fully supports the ICC and the ICC anti-corruption unit in their efforts and denounces any activities of corruption. The board will wait for the conclusion of proceedings before making further comment."
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