Zulqarnain Haider was unlikely to play the fifth ODI

Officialdom in Pakistan has finally made contact with Zulqarnain Haider in a continuing bid to find out the exact nature of events prior to the wicketkeeper's sudden fleeing of Dubai for London. The PCB chairman Ijaz Butt spoke with Haider on Thursday and Wajid Shamsul Hasan, Pakistan's high commissioner to the UK, also met with the 24-year-old.

Though Haider told a local news channel that support and assistance had been offered by Ijaz Butt, a board spokesman said the purpose of the communication had been solely "to find out what made him do what he did." The PCB's three-man fact-finding committee - comprised team manager Intikhab Alam, the security manager Major Najam Javed and a senior board official Subhan Ahmed - has also been trying to establish contact, without success so far.

Questions, however, are still being asked about Haider's actions five days after the event. He insists he fled because of threats he received after turning down the approaches of an unidentified man who wanted him to be involved in fixing the last two ODIs against South Africa.

In an interview with BBC, Haider confirmed the approach was made before the fourth ODI, in which his unbeaten 19 helped Pakistan home in a nail-biter. Taffazul Rizvi, the board's legal advisor, asked why Haider waited until Monday before deciding to leave; the latest the approach could have occurred was Thursday (the fourth ODI was on Friday), which means he waited four days before leaving.

"In our culture, when are you worried about your family's safety, you run to their side," Rizvi told the Daily Telegraph. "Whereas he has run to a different country."

Reports have also emerged indicating Haider was on the verge of being dropped from the one-day line-up. The influential Urdu daily Jang claimed in a front page report, citing team sources, that Haider was not inked in to be a part of either the fourth or fifth ODI. Instead, in a bid to find a better balance to the side, the team management was keen on doubling up Umar Akmal as a batsman-wicketkeeper in his place.

But an ankle injury prevented Umar Akmal from playing the fourth ODI and though he fulfilled that role after Haider's departure in the last ODI, Jang claims he would have done so regardless of Haider's status. The report suggests that Haider had been told of his 'resting' the evening before the last ODI.

Haider, who has sought asylum in the UK and retired from international cricket, also said that he handed over two letters he received in his Dubai hotel room to the ICC's anti-corruption unit. ESPNcricinfo understands, however, that the ICC at least has not received any documents yet from the player.