UAE's Mohammad Naveed, Shaiman Anwar, and Qadeer Ahmed suspended for corruption ahead of T20 Qualifiers

The World T20 Qualifiers, which the UAE will be hosting over the next two weeks, have been hit by a fixing scandal just days before its start. The ICC has charged the national team captain Mohammad Naveed and two senior cricketers, Shaiman Anwar and Qadeer Ahmed of the host team, UAE, with 13 counts of breaching its anti-corruption rules.

The Emirates team management had already called up three players and their addition to the squad is understood to have been approved by the event technical committee. Seamers Junaid Siddique and Waheed Ahmed and batsman Darius D'Silva were called up as cover for the trio in their warm-up matches.

This is not the first time that the evil of match-fixing has made headlines in association with Emirati cricket. In Al-Jazeera's explosive documentary last year, alleged fixers claimed on camera that "we have the UAE team in our hand," claiming that they had players on their payroll who were prepared to deliberately under-perform and boasting that they were "very smart that way."

Naveed's loss will likely come as a heavy blow to the side in both competitive and moral terms. Seen as a rising star on the Associate and franchise circuit, Naveed starred with bat and ball in the UAE's first-ever victory over a Full Member (ZImbabwe) at the 50-over WC Qualifiers last year, named player of the match and briefly breaking into the top-ten of the ICC T20 bowling rankings. His story has been held up as an inspiration to young cricketers in the Emirates as he came from playing street cricket in the remote town of Khor Fakkan on the far side of the country to the cricketing centres of Dubai and Sharjah.

Qadeer, the 33-year-old, who has played 11 ODIs and ten T20Is for UAE stands accused of Article 2.3.2 - "disclosing inside information to Chhayakar...in circumstances where he knew or should have known that the information might be used for betting purposes" apparently in relation to the Zimbabwe v UAE series in April 2019 and UAE's tour to the Netherlands in early August. He was also charged with Article 2.4.4 - "failing to disclose to the ACU full details of any facts or matters that came to his attention that may evidence Corrupt Conduct under the Code by another Participant"; Article 2.4.6 - "failing or refusing to cooperate with an investigation being carried out by the ACU in relation to possible Corrupt Conduct under the Code"; and Article 2.4.7 -  "obstructing or delaying an ACU investigation including by concealing information that may be relevant to that investigation".

Chhayakar, meanwhile, was charged with Article 2.4.6 - "failing or refusing to cooperate with an investigation being carried out by the ACU in relation to possible Corrupt Conduct under the Code". The four players have 14 days from today (October 16) to respond to the charges.