'I feel guilty' - Mohammad Naveed accepts he failed to report corrupt approach

Mohammad Naveed, the UAE fast bowler and captain facing ICC corruption charges, says he made a "mistake" in not reporting an approach made to him. There were three players caught in this investigation but Qadeer Ahmed has already made it clear that he wants to push for an appeal.

According to a report in the National, Naveed was approached by a person claiming to be a representative from a T10 franchise but once the 32-year old realised the person he was meeting was a "fixer" he ended the conversation.

Naveed, however, faces more than just a failure to report charge. On Wednesday, the ICC charged him and senior batsman Shaiman Anwar 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." ESPNcricinfo understands that both players, allegedly, stood to gain up to US$272,000 (approx.) if they were successful in their attempts.

"I am very sincere about my game, I am very sincere about my career," Naveed told the National. "I have been successful for the UAE around the world, in leagues, for franchises. That is because I am very sincere about my game.

"Now this has happened, I feel guilty. Why did I not talk to the board, why did I not talk to the ICC? It is my mistake, and I feel guilty."

"My family is let down, my friends are let down. Everybody is let down. This was my mistake.

Naveed defended himself by pointing to his record for the UAE. "I'm only scared of my God, not anybody else," he said. "I speak very truly. My passion is cricket, I love cricket, my life is cricket.

"I am a successful cricketer - not only in Associate cricket, but in all the world. Look at my ranking, look at my economy rate. My focus is only on cricket, not on being a bad boy."

Qadeer is in trouble for failing to disclose details of an approach and also giving out inside information while knowing it might be used for betting. The 33-year old who has played only 11 ODIs and ten T20Is for UAE agreed that he made a mistake in not reporting the approach but denied all other wrongdoing.

"Regarding code breaches, I admit I failed to report a wrong approach to the ICC. I should have taken that seriously, and reported it to the [Emirates Cricket Board]," he told the National. "In terms of the other breaches, for inside information and non-cooperation on things, I want to deny that. I will appeal to the ICC regarding the other breaches."

Naveed and his team-mates have 14 days from October 16, 2019 to respond to the ICC's charges.