LAHORE: Wicket-keepers Kamran Akmal and Zulqarnain Haider, who were involved in controversies in the past, are likely to be hot contenders to return to Pakistan team for the forthcoming World Twenty20 to be held in Sri Lanka in September.

Well-placed sources told Dawn that while Kamran (a veteran of 53 Tests, 137 ODIs and 38 Twenty20s) — sidelined after the 2011 World Cup with the PCB authorities not convinced about his performance — appeared before the PCB integrity committee on Thursday to get his name cleared, Zulqarnain is also being considered for the World Twenty20.

Zulqarnain, who has featured only in four ODIs so far, all against South Africa, rocked the international cricket in late 2010 when he in a highly dramatic move left the Pakistan team in the UAE for London, without informing the team management on the eve of the fifth ODI against the Proteas.

The player, for his extremely condemnable step, claimed that he had received life threats from match-fixers.

Later, he appeared before the integrity committee, after the then federal interior minister Rehman Malik brought him back from London and the gloveman again joined the national cricket giving reasonable performance for Zarai Taraqiati Bank in the last domestic season.

Sources said Zulqarnain, 26, has had some psychic problems as he always felt that everyone was against him. But now after undergoing counselling sessions with experts his mental attitude has improved, and he deserved a chance.

Though the name of Zulqarnain was not included in the list of 30 probables given by chief selector Iqbal Qasim to the PCB on Wednesday, the PCB think-tank is likely to exchange views with the national selection committee over the inclusion of Zulqarnain in the list, sources claimed.—Sports Reporter