Aleem Dar

Background

He was born into kashmiri Dar tribe.

Umpiring career

Dar is best known as an international cricket umpire. He made his international umpiring debut in an ODI between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at Gujranwala on 16 February 2000. In 2002 he became a member of ICC's International Panel of umpires. He was chosen to umpire at the ICC Cricket World Cup in early 2003. He was appointed to stand in his first Test match in October 2003; the match between Bangladesh and England at Dhaka. Over the next six months he was appointed to stand in several more Test matches, and as a neutral umpire in ODI matches away from Pakistan.

In April 2004, he became the first Pakistani to be part of the ICC Elite Umpire Panel. He was nominated for the ICC Umpire of the year Award in 2005 and 2006, beaten on both occasions by the Australian Simon Taufel. On 17 October 2007 Dar umpired in his 100th ODI (between India and Australia at Mumbai), making him the tenth umpire in the history of cricket to reach that landmark. He reached the landmark in a record time, taking just seven years, and became the first Pakistani to officiate in a century of One Day Internationals.

Dar has stood in a solitary India-Pakistan ODI match at Karachi 2006 and five Ashes Test matches. He was also one of the on-field umpires for the final of the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, standing alongside Rudi Koertzen. He was appoined to stand in the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup between Australia and Sri Lanka, where he officiated with Steve Bucknor. Dar was also selected to stand in the final of the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 between Australia and England. He has never umpired a Test match in Pakistan, because his appointment in the international panel came after the introduction of neutral umpires for Test matches.

In January 2005, Dar and his colleague Steve Bucknor, received death threats during a Test match between England and South Africa at Centurion. He was also involved in a controversy during the 2007 Cricket World Cup final where he, along with fellow officials Bucknor, Koertzen, Bowden and Crowe incorrectly made Australia bowl three unnecessary overs in near darkness. Consequently, the ICC decided to suspend him, along with the other four officials, from duty for the next ICC event, which was the 2007 World Twenty20 Championship.

Dar proved his accuracy at the 2011 Cricket World Cup when all the 15 Umpire Decision Review System appeals against him were struck down.

He was selected as one of the twenty umpires to stand in matches during the 2015 Cricket World Cup. During the second quarter final at Melbourne Cricket Ground between India and Bangladesh he called a no ball against Rubel Hossain after Rohit Sharma was caught, although replays showed that the ball was a legal delivery.

Accolades

After being nominated twice in 2005 and 2006, Dar finally won the Umpire of the Year award in October 2009, at the annual ICC awards ceremony in Johannesburg, South Africa. By claiming the award, Dar ended Simon Taufel's run of five successive awards. It was the first time that any umpire other than Taufel had picked up the accolade in the six years that the ceremony has taken place. In October 2010, he won the award for a second straight year. In September 2011, he was named best umpire for the third consecutive year. On 14 August 2010, the Government of Pakistan honoured him with the President's Award for Pride of Performance. He was honoured by ICC for officiating in 150 ODIs.

Umpiring statistics

As of 27 August 2017: