Sports

Former Pakistan cricketer now steers a cab in Australia

Arshad Khan was spotted by a rider using the Uber taxi service in Sydney

Web Desk September 01, 2015

Former Pakistan off-spinner Arshad Khan is far from the glory days of his debut against West Indies in 1997-98, recently spotted steering the wheel of a cab in Australia.

On Monday, a social media user, Ganesh Birle, posted a photo on Facebook of the former Pakistan cricketer's Uber Taxi driver profile after he took a ride in his cab.

“He was the driver of our cab and we started chatting, he told me that he is from Pakistan and lives in Sydney. Also that he has been to Hyderabad many times when he was playing for Lahore Badshahs something in ICL. After which I asked him his full name and then I was shocked to see his face which I could partially recognise. I shook his hand and left,” the Facebook post read.

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“He was avoiding the conversation all the time, but at the same time he couldn’t help but talk about his India connection. Imagine he introduced himself as ‘I from Pakistan [sic] but I have been here in Sydney for long time now’. Also like a good Uber driver he offered us water and stuff when we sat in the car,” it added.

When contacted a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesman confirmed that Arshad was in Sydney for the past several years. However, he said he did not know whether the former off-spinner was driving a taxi or doing some other job there.

Taxi driving in Sydney is a service business and a motivated taxi driver earns a decent income. According to an Australian website, a taxi driver in Australia earns around 400 Australian dollars daily.

As per Australian driving laws, it is not considered wise to engage passengers in to conversation particularly if a passenger seems preoccupied. On the other hand if a passenger asks the driver about himself, the driver can then interact.

Born on March 22, 1971 in Peshawar, Arshad played nine Tests and 58 ODIs for Pakistan.

During his international career, which ended after he signed-up for the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL), he picked 32 Test and 56 ODI wickets. Both his last Test and ODI came against India at Bangalore and Rawalpindi, respectively.

COMMENTS (42)

Travis | 8 years ago | Reply Pakistanis driving a cab should never make the news. Not driving one should.

stan hater | 8 years ago | Reply Better than smuggling harmful substances to Saudi Arabia....

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Dr.M.M. Khan | 8 years ago | Reply The gentleman is doing a decent job. He did not expect this publicity. I know of Pakistani doctors driving cabs in Norway, Sweden and Canada. I have met others delivering newspapers. Unfortunately their qualifications are not recognized in these countries. When one moves to a distant country one knows what to expect. I am sure with passage of time all of them will improve their lot. Pakistanis are resilient people, they know how to handle and overcome adversity.

Stephen manuel | 8 years ago | Reply Uber is not a taxi servis. Good for arshad.

TiffinBox | 8 years ago | Reply The man makes 4,45,000.00 INR (equivalent to 6,99,000 PKR) per month and people are sad?. Honestly how many of us make this kind of money, i surely would want to before I reach his age. Arshad Khan keep doing what you do till you find what you want to do.

nisar aziz | 8 years ago | Reply There is no harm in driving a taxi he is far better than the lot of recent pakistani cricketers who brought a bad name to the country through spot fixing scandal at least he is working hard to earn his livelihood

Minhaj Haider | 8 years ago | Reply All those feeling sorry for Arshad Khan, please read the news once again. He is making $400 per day, which is $9,600 per month and $115,200 per year if he works 6 days a week. This is way better than any best paying job in Australia. Actually too good to believe.

Naresh | 8 years ago | Reply Earning Australian Dollars 400 a Day for 22 Days a Month is A$ 8,800. This is surely a very Good Income i.e. Over A$ 100,00 Annually. Cheers

Pak 1 | 8 years ago | Reply I salute you Sir. Well done and keep at it. This only proves that we are a hard working nation and this is why we will always be Pakistan InshAllah!. As long as you are a good human and representing a good image of Pakistan (your mother land) abroad then we will always be with you.

Umar R. | 8 years ago | Reply 400$/day. That's 30,000 Pakistani Rs. HOLY!!!!!! lets all move to Australia .

Azmat Ali | 8 years ago | Reply There is nothing wrong in driving a cab, for sure. However, he probably needed to do so because his educational credentials are lacking. Therefore, after his cricketing career came to an end, he was not groomed enough to take on other related roles such as a Commentator. If it is true that his primary job in Australia is as a Coach for a State Association, that sounds perfectly within his area of expertise. The shock seemingly came from realizing that there are international cricketers in the world who have not hauled enough cash during their careers to carry them through to their death bed comfortably. This simply highlights the fact that one should either be absolutely outstanding in one's sporting talents or develop another / related professional talent for the post-retirement times.

SNKN | 8 years ago | Reply To clarify, Arshad Khan has a full time job in Australia employed by one of the State Associations to teach cricket to youngsters. He is part-timing as an Uber driver using his own car. This is perfectly all right and why not!!

Asif - Canada | 8 years ago | Reply You Guys are so obsessed with India, for every news of yours - each of you comment on or link or compare with India or Indian. Please be yourself first and pakistani.

kartukey m | 8 years ago | Reply the matter is not that he is earning 400$ daily but why he is doing that is the main point .

UK | 8 years ago | Reply Good to see another Pakistani working hard and earning an honest living. For clarification: Uber Taxi is not a traditional Taxi service. Uber is a ride sharing service. It enrolls people to use their private cars to pick and drop passengers for a fee. Formal Taxi companies don't like these drivers taking away their business. Uber has been banned in many cities of the world because of that. But it is legal in many other cities and countries. People signup to become drivers, after a background screening by Uber, you can become a Uber driver. Uber drivers usually have other full time jobs, but they pick and drop passengers part time, using their private vehicles.

nahar007 | 8 years ago | Reply We don't need to be sad, just wish for his happy life and efforts!

KARMA | 8 years ago | Reply @Nadia: This news is not about degrading or demeaning anyone's job. This guy was a national hero in olden days and pcb couldn't provide pension for him now. Have your any army officer driving cab in any other country?

Tony Singh | 8 years ago | Reply Respect for the man who earns an honest living for his family. No work is "big" or "small" so long as one does it with honesty

Khurrram Zia Khan | 8 years ago | Reply PCB is struggling to look after current players so it is difficult for them to look after ex- cricketer. Arshad is lucky that he is in Australia and having an honorable earning as many ex- cricketers and other sportsman are living in dilapidated condition. Another aspect this situation of Arshad khan highlight is the importance of involving departments in our sports. Players attached with department get earning during their playing days and also continue to get training about job and after retirement they have secured future. Many ex-cricketers and ex-hockey players are doing jobs in various departments like HBL, PIA, Pakistan Customs and few other organizations. Most of our players are non educated and if departments did not employ them and train them during their playing years,they will face financial crisis after retirement. I wish good luck to Arshad Khan

Ch. Allah Daad | 8 years ago | Reply Why anybody would be sad or shocked. First living in Australia is a privilege. I have seen many honourable and rich people doing illegal things to get there, secondly he is earning a decent living and serving his community. Why we have become so disgusting that we find hard working professions disrespectful and unworthy. His life is much better than our ex prime ministers and minsters and majority of Pakistanis.

Karachi Wally | 8 years ago | Reply Arshad is doing his best what he could do to move his life forward and his family. Real issue is that we have lost as a country, blame is on politicians, civil & armed bureaucracy, etc. No harm in driving but there are no opportunities in Pakistan even somebody who is as talented as Arshad Khan!

hash | 8 years ago | Reply @observer: This is not really sad. Its a honourable job. In subcontinent jobs like taxi driving, plumbing etc are perceived as low however in West Cabbies end up with more cash than mid to high end salaried professionals.

Parvez | 8 years ago | Reply ...he's earning an honest living....good for him, well done.

Nadia | 8 years ago | Reply sir, its not that driving is bad, its very good to be earning honesty ...its good to be earning halal ...so its not to be ashamed of...but ....there is a big problem here... You still have to think of it in this way that he was much better than billions of other fellow people living in sub continent who could never make it into test team, ...that means skill wise he was much better...so such people deserve some sort of benefit fund or stipends.....ICC being manager of so called "gentleman's game" should come up with some sort of welfare fund....poor boards can not do it alone.......!!

A Citizen | 8 years ago | Reply Nothing wrong with that. He is making an honest living in Australia, an opportunity he might not have in this land pure due to his skills

Abdullah | 8 years ago | Reply A good cricketer and most importantly, a great man! Earning his living by halal and legitimate means. And still remains proud to be a Pakistani!

Chris | 8 years ago | Reply Nothing wrong at all in driving a cab. Please note this is a part time thing for him His full time job still includes working at a training center in Australia. He went on a sport visa from here and remains an active member among the numerous talents the Australian Cricket Association have hired from abroad to train their youngsters.

Ravindra | 8 years ago | Reply Whats wrong in driving cab , is drivers are bad people??? Come on get over it. good luck to arshad khan.. Ravi

Farooq | 8 years ago | Reply There is absolutely nothing sad about him driving a cab. However, I wonder why he didn't give a shot at country cricket in Australia or maybe he did but failed to impress -- he was a good bowler though.

Rahim | 8 years ago | Reply Nothing wrong with driving a cab and making money...at least he is not getting money from other wrong sources that is his hard earn money.....Good on you Arshad Pakistanis are hard worker when they go abroad.

Nadia | 8 years ago | Reply I think, in such cases the role of player's welfare associations is necessitated. If a retired test, ODI or T20 cricketer is in need of financial help, then there must be a stipend system for such cases. Obviously when MS Dhoni or Chris Gayle retires he will not need stipend owing to huge money earned already from T20 leagues and advertisements but cases like Arshad or anyone from Zimbabwe or other lesser/ financially deficient cricket boards will benefit from it. International Cricket Council should not become a money hungry corporate house, it should come up with support for deserving cases like this....poor boards of such countries can not do it alone....we need something like benefit stipend system in ICC.......After all its players due to whom ICC is minting money...!!

Mohammad | 8 years ago | Reply There is no shame in driving a Taxi or any work he is doing.. he is earning real Halal money by working... real shame would be if he had played under the table money like many cricketers. There might be a reason why he is driving an uber taxi.. otherwise He could have earn easy money in Pakistan being ex cricketers on TV at least replacing some non sense talk. I just wonder how come he rose to glory and become a taxi driver, may be some personal mistakes or problems. Keep it up Mr. Arshad, you are earning by hard working, and that's it.

Muhammad Kashif | 8 years ago | Reply @ Lol @ All 100's of indian phd's and software engineers all drive taxis in new york even. Arshad Khan was a good player , but competition was tough to be in team and only 11 can play.

A Peshawary | 8 years ago | Reply Sad on the part of PCB but honorable on the part of Arshad for not shying away from hard-earned money. Wish him all the best and respectable future. A Peshawary

Inamullah | 8 years ago | Reply So sad to see this. I really liked this fellow, he had great potential, and then suddenly just disappeared from the scene. Hope he can make a come back to the cricketing world.

Fawad khan | 8 years ago | Reply There is absolutely nothing wrong in driving a taxi. He is far better than our trio who were caught spot fixing.

waqas | 8 years ago | Reply Whats sad in it that he drives a cab in Australia? Its actually your low mentality that you think of Cab driver not being a good profession. No profession is good are bad, your honesty and hard work makes it good or bad.

Lol | 8 years ago | Reply No big deal, hundreds of indian phds drive taxi here

ironMan! | 8 years ago | Reply we wish him goodluck in his new role. It's not a sad thing to drive a taxi - it's being creative to earn money the right way. Lets be proud of it. Earning from taxi or from making billions in pay as CEO of Apple industries - as long its being earned earnestly, it should be cheered.

Misbah | 8 years ago | Reply These are considered as our real heros.. Loads of love and prayers for you Sir.

Shariq Shakil | 8 years ago | Reply So sad, this is how we treat our international players.PCB should at least give some retirement benefits to them.. One could imagine disastrous position for domestic players...

observer | 8 years ago | Reply sad

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