Former AWOL wicketkeeper Ghulam Shabber open to return after corruption ban over ‘worst decision of my life'

The National

a day ago

A former UAE wicketkeeper, who once went AWOL and fled the country midway through a tournament, will be able to return to cricket this month when his ban for corruption ends.
Ghulam Shabber has not played sanctioned cricket since he walked out of the team hotel in Abu Dhabi unnoticed, late at night during the 2019 T20 World Cup Qualifier.
He had left his kit bag in his hotel room, and told his roommate he would be back later. His absence was only noted at the team meeting the following morning, ahead of a vital fixture for the UAE in their bid to reach the World Cup.
He was immediately uncontactable. Team members, as well as staff from the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) and the ICC, conducted a search for him which included local police stations and hospitals.
Friends both from his residence in Ajman, as well as back in his native Pakistan, were unable to assist with trying to find him.
Ultimately, a contact of one of his erstwhile UAE teammates found Shabber's name, as well as those of his immediate family, on the manifest of a flight which had departed for Pakistan late the previous night.
When Shabber was tracked down the following day, he told The National that he had retired from cricket and would not be returning.
The timing of his exit was telling. The national team was in disarray at the time due to a probe by the ICC's anti-corruption unit (ACU).
Mohammed Naveed, Shaiman Anwar and Qadeer Ahmed had all been thrown out of the team and charged with a variety of corruption offences on the eve of the tournament.
Ashfaq Ahmed was then provisionally suspended amid suspicion he, too, was involved. Shabber then went missing, having had dinner with Ashfaq the previous evening.
Shabber initially denied he was involved in the corruption case, saying he had left due to what he perceived was a lack of faith in him by the coaching staff, as well as the pervading atmosphere surrounding the team.
The ACU trailed Shabber in Pakistan, though. The investigation into his part in attempts to fix aspects of matches involving the UAE took nearly two years, but in 2021 he admitted to six corruption offences.
The ICC banned him for four years from that date. He will be eligible to return to playing officially recognised cricket from August 22.
Now aged 39, Shabber says he does not want to return to playing, but will if he can get a match fee to do so, in order to feed his children.
He has a young family and has only sporadically been employed during his absence from cricket.
'My answer is no, but I will have to take care of my children,' Shabber told The National when asked if he will return to playing.
'I have small children and I don't have a job. I have to feed the children, so I will have to play.
'What was meant to happen has happened. I want to forget my past and move forward. I am working on myself, and I want to be myself in a new way.
'I love the UAE. It is my home. If I have to go back to my home again in life, I will go there. And one thing I want to do is to apologise to my friends, my relatives, the UAE cricket board, my teammates, the ICC, and my fans. Because of me, your hearts were broken.'
The report into Shabber's case implicated him in attempts to fix aspects of international matches involving the UAE on separate tours to Nepal and Zimbabwe in 2019.
Although he denied acting on the plans to fix, he did acknowledge he had failed to report the approaches to the ACU, as players are obliged to do.
He also acknowledged he had agreed to let his phone number be passed on to someone he knew to be involved in betting.
His sanction of four years reflected the fact he admitted those offences. In the time since, he has lived in his home town of Jhang, occasionally working as a storekeeper, as well as other jobs.
'It was the worst decision of my life that got me into trouble,' Shabber said. 'I've had a very difficult life. I've worked everything from labour to in a general store.
'I have been unemployed for the past three years. No one has even asked about my condition. My condition is so bad that I cannot say. But Allah has given me patience and I am enduring these conditions patiently.'
Ghulam is the second player to be eligible to play again out of the six from that UAE side who were handed bans by the ICC for corruption.
Qadeer made a comeback in November 2024 after five years out, and has since established himself back in A-division domestic cricket.
The pace bowler has also expressed a wish to assist the anti-corruption authorities with their attempts to educate players on the risks facing them.
Shabber said he also wants to help others to learn from the mistakes he made.
'Whether you become a cricketer or not is a matter of fate,' he said when asked if he would encourage his children to pursue the sport.
'I would like my kids to be educated, have awareness, and not make mistakes like their father.
'I am very sorry for what happened. This is the biggest loss in my life that can never be compensated for, which has caused a lot of damage to my personality and my family.
'I still counsel children. I explain to them that hiding a sin is also a sin. Always stand by the truth and always do good. The end of evil is always bad.
'I want what happened to me not to happen to anyone else, so I will do whatever it takes to make it happen, because small mistakes can lead to big sins.'