Corruption charges against umpire Rauf devastating: Pakistani daily

Islamabad, Feb 13: The corruption charges levelled against top Pakistani umpire Asad Rauf are devastating for the image of Pakistani cricket intertiolly, said a Pakistani daily on Saturday.

An editorial “Umpire’s Out” in The tion said that if match-fixing scandals of Pakistani players hurt fans across the country, “then the corruption charges levelled against one of the top Pakistani umpires in the world, Asad Rauf, is particularly devastating for the image of Pakistani cricket intertiolly”.

The umpire has been found guilty and is banned for five years by the Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) from its fixtures on charges of ‘corruption and misconduct’.

Rauf, who was part of the ICC’s elite panel and officiated in Test matches, was accused of accepting expensive gifts from bookies besides spot-fixing on Indian Premier League matches in the 2013 edition. Rauf claims that the BCCI did not have the authority to place this ban on him and that he would fight to clear his me.

The daily said that his “actions remain equally punishable and the accused should be held accountable no matter the authority handing out the punishment”. “The affairs of IPL are very much a responsibility of the BCCI and if the umpire was indeed involved in spot-fixing, he should be pelised for it. The Pakistan Cricket Board is taking the backseat on this one and that is probably the wise thing to do considering the circumstances,” it added. IANS