Having already their four players provisionally suspended in corruption probe, the beleaguered United Arab Emirates (UAE) national cricket team faced a major blow after it emerged wicket-keeper Ghulam Shabbir left UAE without explanation in the midst of the World T20 qualifiers.


According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, Shabbir was also absent when the national team lost to Jersey on Tuesday, after which it was revealed he has now been located in Pakistan.

"At 11am yesterday we had a team meeting, and Ghulam Shabbir did not show up for it," Peter Kelly, the UAE team manager, was reported in the National as saying.

"He did not show up for the bus in the afternoon [when the team left for the Hong Kong match]. ECB are doing due diligence. We are obviously concerned for his well being. We went out of our way to contact any next of kin that we could, as well as any numbers we had for him.

"We also searched hospitals to make sure he was OK. We also got people to go and check if he was at home. Since that point, we have managed to find out that he has left the country. What we do know is that he is safe, but we don't know the reasons that he has gone."

There is no suggestion yet that Shabbir's disappearance is linked to the corruption probe.

"It is out of his nature, and we are unsure why he left, and why he chose to not tell people," Kelly said. "He was not a part of the anti-corruption investigation.

"For the past 24 hours or so, we have been trying to find out if he is OK. We have managed to get to the point where we are. Where we go from here, we [don't know]. We do know he is OK, and he has left the country. That is all we know so far."