Former International Cricket Council umpire and former Pakistan first class player Asad Rauf passed away aged 66 on Thursday following a cardiac arrest.
Rauf officiated 170 international matches in his top flight umpiring career. The 170 matches includes 49 Tests, 98 ODIs and 23 T20Is.
He was also a member of the ICC Elite Umpire Panel from 2006 to 2013.
Cricket match match-fixing and spot-fixing allegations tarnished Rauf’s career, and in February 2016, he was sentenced to a five-year suspension after being found guilty of corruption.
However, off-field controversies didn’t help his career. In 2013, Rauf’s stellar-looking career came to an abrupt end as he was named as a “wanted accused” by Mumbai police in their investigation into the infamous IPL spot-fixing scandal. Rauf was serving as an umpire in that year’s tournament.
Subsequently, he left India but was withdrawn from the Champions Trophy. Later, he was even dropped from ICC’s elite panel of umpires, though the apex cricket body stated it wasn’t because his name had popped up in the investigations.
Disappointed with the decision, Asad Rauf fought for justice and said that he would be happy to cooperate with the ACSU. Well, that wasn’t the end of problems for Rauf as in 2016, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) banned Rauf for five years on four charges of corruption and misconduct. It must be noted that Rauf had a decent professional career as a player before turning into an umpire. He played 71 First-Class matches.
