The World T20 Qualifiers have been hit by a corruption scandal just days before its start, with the captain and two senior cricketers of the host team, UAE, charged by the ICC with 13 counts of breaching its anti-corruption rules. Mohammad Naveed, Shaiman Anwar and right-arm paceman Qadeer Ahmed have been provisionally suspended with immediate effect.

Along with them, Mehardeep Chhayakar, who has participated in cricket in Ajman, has also been charged with multiple breaches of the anti-corruption code. The players have been charged with attempts to corrupt games at the World T20 qualifiers themselves, which begin on Friday with the UAE in action.

Naveed had been stood down as captain of the UAE and removed from the squad earlier this week, replaced by Ahmed Raza, the 31-year-old left-arm spinner. No reason was given for the move at the time, though the ICC's statement on Wednesday made clear why.

Both Naveed and Anwar were charged with "contriving, or being party to an agreement or effort to fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly, the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of matches in the upcoming ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2019" - Article 2.1.1 - as well as "failing to disclose to the ACU full details of any approaches or invitations received to engage in conduct in relation to the ICC World T20 Qualifiers 2019 that would amount to corrupt conduct under the Code" - Article 2.4.4.

These aside, Naveed was also found to be in breach of two clauses of Emirates Cricket Board Code for its T10 League: Article 2.1.1 - "contriving, or being party to an agreement or effort to fix or contrive or otherwise influence improperly, the result, progress, conduct or any other aspect of matches in the upcoming T10 League 2019", and Article 2.4.4 - "failing to disclose to the ACU full details of any approaches or invitations received to engage in conduct that would amount to corrupt conduct under the Code".

Naveed and Anwar, pillars of the UAE team, were expected to play major roles in their team's campaigns, at home, in the upcoming qualifiers, to be contested between 14 teams with the top six going through to the tournament proper, to be played in Australia in November next year.

As for Qadeer, the 33-year-old who has played 11 ODIs and ten T20Is for UAE, the charges were for "failing to disclose to the ACU full details of any approaches or invitations received to engage in conduct that would amount to Corrupt Conduct under the Code" in relation to the Zimbabwe v UAE series in April 2019 and the Netherlands v UAE series in August 2019, as well as "disclosing Inside Information to Mehar Chhayakar in August 2019 in circumstances where he knew or should have known that the information might be used for betting purposes"; "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"; "failing or refusing to cooperate with an investigation being carried out by the ACU in relation to possible Corrupt Conduct under the Code"; and "obstructing or delaying an ACU investigation including by concealing information that may be relevant to that investigation".

Chhayakar, meanwhile, was charged with "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 now have 14 days from October 16, 2019 to respond to the charges.

In a statement issued shortly after the ICC's, 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 any further comment."

More to follow...