Former ICC umpire Asad Rauf hits back at Virender Sehwag for false accusations of spot-fixing

Former member of ICC’s elite panel of umpires Asad Rauf was a renowned figure in the cricketing world from 2000 to 2013, with over 150 appearances in international cricket matches as an umpire. Rauf, who now runs a used-goods shop in Lahore, after he retired from the game in 2013, has lambasted Virender Sehwag for falsely accusing him of spot-fixing.

The 66-year-old’s career was not short of controversies as he was accused of accepting expensive gifts from bookies in the IPL and involvement in a betting scandal in 2013. The BCCI took disciplinary action against the umpire and banned him for five years. 

Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag had accused Rauf of spot-fixing in a chat with ‘What The Duck’ as he revealed a chat with the umpire prior to a match against Australia in 2008.

“Asad Rauf was very fond of collecting things. I was the brand ambassador of Adidas at the time, so I gifted him shoes, t-shirts, and glasses, and I jokingly told him not to raise his finger while I am batting. And he did exactly that. I attempted a cut shot but ended up edging it. So thick was the edge that it was heard even inside the dressing room but Rauf gave me not out,” Sehwag had told in that interview.

The Pakistani has hit back at the former Indian opener, shrugging off his bribery claims, and said that he was never accused of such behavior by anyone else in his umpiring career.

“As far as Sehwag is concerned, uski kya majaal wo ek ICC elite umpire se kuch kahe. (Sehwag has no power to ask an ICC elite panel umpire to ask for a favour). I was never accused of such behaviour in my career before,” Rauf told Pakistan’s Hum News

‘I wouldn’t have gone to India the next year for the IPL’ – Asad Rauf on accusations of sexual exploitation in 2012

Rauf was also accused of sexual misconduct by model Leena Kapoor in 2012 as she registered a complaint against him at a Mumbai police station. The model had said that the umpire had promised to marry her but later retracted his promise. The former ICC umpire cleared the air regarding that allegation stating that the allegations were baseless as he was in India the following year for his IPL umpiring stint.

“Us ladki ne sasti sauhrat k lie aisa ki, Hindustan me aisa hi hota hai (She did that for gaining some cheap fame, that’s how things happen in India). If the allegations were true, I wouldn’t have gone to India the next year for the IPL, and she later apologized to me as well,” Rauf told another news channel.