Usman Sarwar (, born 12 December 1983) is a former

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er. Sarwar was a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

who bowled right-arm

medium-fast Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also ...

. He was born at

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Only List A match

Sarwar played a single

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

match for

Lahore Eagles The Lahore Eagles was a Faysal Bank T20 Cup team, based in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan. The team was established in 2006 and its home ground was Gaddafi Stadium. See also * Pakistan Super League References External linksTwenty 20 Record page f ...

against the

National Bank of Pakistan National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) is a Pakistani government-owned multinational commercial bank which is a subsidiary of State Bank of Pakistan. It is headquartered in Karachi, Pakistan. As of December 2022, it has over 1,500 branches across Paki ...

in the 2008/09 Royal Bank of Scotland Cup. The match was a disaster for both the Eagles and Sarwar. Bowled out for just 122 in 40.3 overs, Sarwar remained

not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...

on 0 at the end of the Eagles innings. In reply, National Bank of Pakistan scored the 123 runs required to win in just 6.1 overs, with an innings run-rate of 19.94 runs per over. Sarwar himself was singled out for harsh treatment by the batsman: His 3 overs conceded 78 runs, an

economy rate In cricket, a bowler's economy rate is the average number of runs they have conceded per over bowled. In most circumstances, the lower the economy rate is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compar ...

of 26. His 3 overs individually conceded 23, 27 and 28 runs. By the end of their reply

Salman Butt Salman Butt ( Punjabi:سلمان بٹ; born 7 October 1984) is a former Pakistani cricketer and captain who played for Pakistan national cricket team between 2003 and 2010, before getting banned for five years for his involvement in a 2010 spo ...

was unbeaten on 92 from just 25 balls.

Later claims

Prior to the match, Eagles captain

Zulqarnain Haider Zulqarnain Haider may refer to: * Zulqarnain Haider (cricketer) * Zulqarnain Haider (actor) {{hndis, Haider, Zulqarnain ...

was removed from the captaincy amid allegations that he was under pressure to select certain players for the game; he never played for Lahore again. The captaincy then passed to Ahmed Dar, with Sarwar proceeding to be selected. The National Bank of Pakistan needed to win the match convincingly to improve their net run-rate and qualify for the semi-final of the tournament. The outcome of this match was later investigated, but the

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), formerly known as Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP), is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan ...

said nothing untoward had been discovered about the match. In November 2010, Haider fled to London from the Pakistan vs South Africa series in

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

, citing threats from bookmakers after he refused to help fix a

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

in the series. Speaking to

Geo TV Jang Media Group (), also known as Geo Group, is a Pakistani media conglomerate and a subsidiary of Dubai-based company Independent Media Corporation. It has headquarters in Printing House, Karachi. It is the publisher of the Urdu language new ...

Haider said: "Yes I have got threats that I should play so and so player, or not play that player". These remarks have put the spotlight on the only List A match Sarwar played and on Sarwar himself, even more so considering the match involved Salman Butt and

Mohammad Amir Mohammad Amir ( ; born 13 April 1992) is a Pakistani cricketer who played for the Pakistan national cricket team from 2008 to 2024. He plays for Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League. He is a left-arm fast bowler and a left-handed ...

, who are both suspended by the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

on suspicion of

spot fixing Spot or SPOT may refer to: Places * Spot, North Carolina, a community in the United States * The Spot, New South Wales, a locality in Sydney, Australia * South Pole Traverse, sometimes called the South Pole Overland Traverse People * Spot Colli ...

during Pakistan's 2010 tour of England.

Wicketkeeper In cricket, the wicket-keeper is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket, ready to stop deliveries that pass the batsman, and take a catch, stump the batsman out, or run out a batsman when occasion arises. The wicket-ke ...

Kamran Akmal Kamran Akmal ( Punjabi, Urdu: ; born 13 January 1982) is a Pakistani cricket administrator, coach and former cricketer, who played for Pakistan as a right-handed batsman & wicketkeeper. He started his international career in November 2002 with ...

is also under investigation for irregularities in a Test match between Australia and Pakistan in 2010, as well as

Wahab Riaz Wahab Riaz (; born 28 June 1985) is a Pakistani former cricketer and cricket administrator who was chief selector of Pakistan national cricket team from November 2023 to July 2024. Riaz was a left-arm fast bowler and a right-handed batsman. H ...

, who has himself been questioned by

New Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

about spot-fixing.

References

External links

Usman Sarwar
at

ESPNcricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

Usman Sarwar
at CricketArchive {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarwar, Usman 1983 births Living people Pakistani cricketers Cricketers from Lahore Lahore Eagles cricketers