There was a time when it was not at all certain that Zulqarnain Haider, a tall and lanky wicketkeeper from Lahore, would ever build on his debut, which came in a heavy loss in a Twenty20 against South Africa in February 2007. But after some good domestic results he found a place on the 2010 England tour as Kamran Akmal's understudy, and when the senior keeper's lapses became too frequent, Haider was given a Test debut at Edgbaston. He was out to his first ball feathering a catch behind, but his characterful and determined 88 in the second innings formed the basis of a fightback.

That innings was testament to his character as his road to the top has been made in difficult personal circumstances. He took part in the Under-15 World Cup in England in the summer of 2000 at the age of 13. Four years later, at the Under-19 World Cup in Dhaka, he scored a vital 23 not out from 18 balls, and claimed three catches, as Pakistan took the title in the final against West Indies.

A broken finger after his Test debut ruled him out for the remainder of the tour and then his career appeared to come to an extraordinary, and worrying, end when he fled the one-day series against South Africa in UAE for London claiming he had received death threats following the fourth ODI. He sought asylum in London fearing for his safety, but returned to Pakistan eventually in 2011.
Liam Brickhill