Asad Rauf, famed cricket umpire from Pakistan, has died after suffering a heart attack, his family confirmed. Rauf was 66. His brother Tahir Rauf said Asad was in Lahore when he got the heart attack and died before reaching the hospital.
“He had not been feeling well for the last couple of days while running his business and came home early. Doctors say he had a cardiac arrest,” his brother said. He will be buried in Lahore near his home on Thursday evening.
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Several former Pakistani cricketers remembered Asad Rauf. “Not only was he a good umpire but also had a wicked sense of humor”, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja said.
“He always put a smile on my face and will continue to do so whenever I think about him. Many sympathies with his family for their loss”, he added in a social media post.
Rauf’s umpiring record has been bigger than most. He had officiated 139 one-day internationals, 28 Twenty20 internationals and 64 Test matches. Rauf’s career came to a halt in 2013, after he was linked to the Indian Premier League (IPL) spot-fixing scandal during an investigation by Mumbai police.
Rauf always maintained his innocence and was ready to cooperate with the ICC’s Anti-Corruption Unit, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India banned him for five years in 2016 and that meant he could not serve as an umpire in the IPL.
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After the BCCI ban, Rauf’s umpiring career came to an end as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) also implemented a ban even for domestic matches and from being involved in any cricket-related activities in Pakistan.
For the last few years Rauf was running a shop to sell clothes and shoes at the Landa Bazar in Lahore, news agency PTI reported.