Imran Haider targets future coaching role in UAE after announcing retirement

Former leg spinner is starting out on new career at Azhar Ali's cricket academy in Lahore but hopes for opportunity in Emirates

UAE bowler Imran Haider training with Pakistan's one-day team at the ICC Academy in Dubai Sports City in 2021. Chris Whiteoak / The National

Imran Haider, the former UAE spinner, says he hopes to return to national duty one day as a coach, after announcing his retirement from playing.

The leg spinner played 31 limited-overs games for the UAE, as well as a number of first-class fixtures in the now defunct Intercontinental Cup.

He had not played for the national team since the troubled 2019 T20 World Cup Qualifier in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Now aged 36, he has been living in Pakistan for the past two years, where he has undertaken coaching qualifications.

As well as playing recreational cricket, he has been coaching at the Azhar Ali Cricket Academy, which is run by the former Pakistan Test captain, in Lahore.

He says he is committed to a career in coaching, and hopes that could include a return to the Emirates in the future.

“I have been waiting for the call and hoping for a comeback if I could get a chance again for my country, but now I think it is going to be too late,” Haider said.

“I am going to remove my playing cap and wear a coaching one instead now.

“Azhar Ali’s academy is one of the best in Lahore so I have been getting good experience. In the future I am looking forward to dropping my CV with the [Emirates Cricket Board].

“If I got a chance with the UAE in the future, that would definitely be my first option. My best wishes are still with the team and UAE cricket.”

Haider took 37 wickets in limited-overs internationals for the UAE, his favourite being that of Glenn Maxwell in a T20I against Australia in Abu Dhabi in 2018.

His final game came on the same field a year later when the UAE were in a time of crisis, at the 2019 Qualifier.

Their doomed bid to make it to the T20 World Cup was undermined by a corruption crisis that ultimately led to six players being banned by the ICC for a combined total of 41 years.

Three players were suspended on the eve of the competition, while two more were expelled during it.

Haider had his phone confiscated and the data analysed as part of the investigation.

Although he was not subsequently charged, and was cleared to play, his career only lasted one more match.

As the team sought to move on from the crisis after the tournament, faith was instead shown in a raft of new young players.

Haider was overlooked for a recall as Karthik Meiyappan was given his chance in the leg spinner role, and he failed to make it back into the side thereafter.

“That time was so shocking for us,” Haider said of the corruption controversy. “We did not know what was happening. Everything just turned in the opposite direction.

“All the time we were stuck thinking about why this was happening. We had all been working very hard to achieve our targets, but we did not know this would happen. After this most of the team was changed. I really miss the time I was involved with UAE cricket.”

Haider paid tribute to Dougie Brown for the backing he gave him during his time as a player.

Brown was the coach who navigated the side through the corruption crisis and helped rebuild the team, only to be replaced shortly after.

Haider said he wants to apply the lessons he learnt from Brown and Dom Telo, the former assistant coach, in his own coaching career.

“Wanting to be a coach is all about the experience I have had in my life,” Haider said. “I want to pass on that experience among young cricketers. It is important that we share whatever we have learnt from cricket.

“I appreciated the coaching I received from [former UAE coach] Dougie Brown and Dom Telo. They were very good to me and I try to use their coaching methods in my life. It has helped me a lot.

“[Brown] always gave his best to every player and spent time with everyone, which not every coach is willing to do. He was very hard-working and determined, and that is what I want to be like.”