Asad Rauf

Template:Infobox cricket umpire Asad Rauf, (born 12 May 1956) in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, was a first class cricketer and is now a member of the Emirates ICC Elite Umpire Panel.

Playing Days

His career as a first-class cricket player lasted from 1977/78 to 1991/92. His most successful season was 1986/87 when he made 672 first-class runs at an average of 35.36 including one century and five fifties, but he fell into poor form after this. His career statistics are as follows:

	Matches	Runs / Average	Wickets / Average
First Class	71	3423 / 28.76	3 / 149.33
List A	40	611 / 19.70	9 / 42.22

Umpiring Career

Rauf became a first-class umpire in 1998, and he soon impressed with some very good performances. By February 2000 the Pakistan Cricket Board had decided to appoint him to his first one day international (ODI), the match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at Gujranwala, Pakistan, on 16 February 2000. In 2004, with the promotion of Aleem Dar to the ICC Elite Umpire Panel, Rauf was included in the International Panel of Umpires for the first time. He impressed with his accuracy, and in January 2005 the ICC appointed him to his first test match, the fixture between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe at Chittagong (MAA). In December 2005 he had the honour of standing in the Boxing Day test at the MCG between Australia and South Africa. In that match Australia, and in particular Shane Warne, put a great deal of pressure on Rauf through vociferous appealing. Fortunately Rauf was standing alongside the highly experienced Steve Bucknor, who stepped in to ease the pressure. Rauf performed admirably, and in April 2006 he was rewarded for his accurate umpiring with a promotion to the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires.

Rauf tends to have a calm, composed, no-nonsense approach on field, and this has stood him in good stead for a number of his fixtures to date, where he has had to deal with a number of controversial moments:

1) In the second ODI between West Indies and India (May 2006), Rauf let a ball be bowled without Billy Doctrove, the square leg umpire, in position. The Indian team effected a run out, turned to appeal and discovered that Doctrove was in fact off the field attending to the sight screen. Rauf quickly called "Dead Ball" and had the ball bowled again. Fortunately TV replays showed that the batsman was in fact not out.

2) In the first test between West Indies and India (June 2006), Indian batsman MS Dhoni was caught at the boundary. However, Dhoni felt the fielder had carried the ball over the boundary, to give him 6 runs. Rauf referred the decision to the TV umpire, who could not make a decision due to a lack of footage. Anarchy ensued on field, and for a time Rauf and the usually unflappable Simon Taufel were at a loss as to what to do. In the end Indian captain Rahul Dravid had to sort the situation by making a declaration.

3) In the third test between South Africa and India (January 2007), Rauf failed to correctly count the number of balls which had passed in the over. The sixth ball passed and Rauf did not call over, nor did his colleague Daryl Harper alert him to the fact that the over was complete. On the seventh ball of Dale Steyn's over Munaf Patel was dismissed, and the Indian innings brought to an end.

Fortunately for Rauf his decision making has proved to be excellent, and his calm attitude has ensured these controversies faded quickly from the memory of both players and spectators, and he is quickly becoming one of the most respected umpires in the world.

Umpiring Statistics

	First	Last	Total
Tests	Bangladesh v Zimbabwe at Chittagong, Jan 2005	England v West Indies at Headingley, May 2007	11
ODIs	Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Gujranwala, Feb 2000	New Zealand v Australia at Grenada, Apr 2007	45