Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Rizwan Suspended Amid Cyber Crime Probe
Pakistan stars Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Rizwan have been barred from taking part in the President’s Trophy Grade-I, as a high-profile cyber crime investigation tightens around the national team dressing room.
The first-class tournament begins on Saturday across four venues, but two of Pakistan’s most recognisable cricketers will be watching from the sidelines while investigators sift through evidence.
Cyber probe engulfs national stars
Pakistan’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) questioned both Imam and Rizwan in Lahore on Thursday after a complaint from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). At the heart of the probe: alleged leaks of confidential information from the national team dressing room during Pakistan’s Test tour of England.
Their exclusion from the President’s Trophy is not a selection call. It is a suspension of participation while the investigation runs its course, according to reporting in Dawn.
Imam and Rizwan had already been under scrutiny. They were among seven players recalled from the Test squad after Pakistan lost the first two matches of the three-Test series in England. Five were dropped purely for cricketing reasons. The PCB made it clear Imam and Rizwan were being withdrawn under the cloud of an internal inquiry.
The case has now moved beyond internal discipline and into the hands of cyber crime specialists.
Four-hour questioning and phones in custody
A Dawn source said the pair were summoned to the NCCIA office in Lahore and questioned for roughly four hours. During the session, they informed investigators that their mobile phones were already in the agency’s possession and could be sent for forensic examination.
The players also asked for more time to file written explanations, a sign that this is not a routine disciplinary matter but a detailed probe into digital communication and information flow around the national side.
For Pakistan cricket, where dressing-room secrecy is often treated as sacrosanct, the suggestion of leaks during an overseas Test tour cuts deep.
Domestic plans on hold
On the field, both men had been pencilled in for prominent roles in the President’s Trophy. Imam had been named captain of Oil and Gas Development Company, while Rizwan was listed as vice-captain for Sui Northern Gas Pipelines.
Those appointments now sit in limbo.
Even without the ban, neither would have featured in the opening round, according to the same report. Both missed the mandatory fitness tests required before the competition, ruling them out of immediate selection. The investigation has turned that short-term absence into an indefinite one, at least until the authorities complete their work.
Lord’s no-show adds to spotlight
The spotlight on Imam had already intensified before the cyber allegations surfaced. National selector and PCB director of high performance Aaqib Javed publicly stated that Imam would also face investigation for failing to bat in either innings of the second Test against England at Lord’s, a match Pakistan lost by 194 runs.
That defeat deepened the sense of crisis around the Test side. Now, the fallout has spilled into domestic cricket and into the realm of cyber crime.
The President’s Trophy will go on without two of Pakistan’s senior players. The more pressing question for the PCB is whether this probe stops at a pair of phones and a dressing room leak, or whether it exposes deeper fractures inside the national setup.
