Haider reconsidering decision to return to Pakistan

Former Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider is reportedly reconsidering his decision to return to Pakistan after receiving threatening phone calls.

Haider told Geo Television on Thursday that an anonymous caller from Pakistan threatened him, saying: "you are coming back despite being told not to come, you are responsible for the consequences." Haider reportedly informed Scotland Yard about the calls. However, later in the day, it appeared - not for the first time - that the situation had changed as he left an update on his Facebook page confirming that he would be returning as planned. "Coming with same plan on 24 on Sunday. Going Pakistan on 24th on Sunday," his page read.

Haider had gone missing from the Pakistan team's hotel in Dubai on the morning of the fifth and final ODI against South Africa on November 8, saying he had received death threats from unidentified people seeking to draw him into match-fixing. He fled to the UK to seek protection and placed an application for asylum that hinged on the nature of the information he was able to divulge, as the extraordinary nature of his case appeared to fall outside the usual conditions required of a person seeking refugee status.

The application was still being processed when Haider announced, earlier this week, that he would be returning to Pakistan after he had been reassured of his safety as well as that of his family's after a meeting with Pakistan interior minister Rehman Malik in London.