Aleem Dar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal information
Aleem Dar
Pakistan
Full name	Aleem Sarwar Dar
Born	6 June 1968 (1968-06-06) (age 40)
	Jhang, Punjab, Pakistan
Role	Umpire
Batting style	Right-handed
Bowling style	Right-arm leg spin
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1997/98	Gujranwala
1995/96	Allied Bank Limited
1987 – 1995	Lahore City
1986/87	Pakistan Railways
First-class debut	8 February 1987: Pakistan Railways v ADBP
Last First-class	6 December 1997: Gujranwala v Bahawalpur
List A debut	29 September 1986: Pakistan Railways v United Bank Limited
Last List A	23 March 1998: Gujranwala v Malaysia
Umpiring information
Tests umpired	46 (2003–present)
ODIs umpired	108 (2000–present)
Career statistics
	FC	LA
Matches	17	18
Runs scored	270	179
Batting average	11.73	19.88
100s/50s	0/0	0/0
Top score	39	37

Balls bowled	740	634
Wickets	11	15
Bowling average	34.36	31.66
5 wickets in innings	0	0
10 wickets in match	0	n/a
Best bowling	3/19	3/27
Catches/stumpings	5/–	17/–
As of 23 April 2008 Source: Cricinfo

Aleem Sarwar Dar (Born June 6, 1968 in Jhang, Punjab) played Pakistani domestic cricket for Allied Bank, Gujranwala Cricket Association, Lahore, and Railways (Pakistan) as a right-handed batsmen and legbreak bowler.

However, Aleem Dar is best known as an international cricket umpire. He made his international debut in an ODI between Pakistan and Sri Lanka at Gujranwala on February 16th 2000. In 2002 he became a member of the Emirates International Panel ICC of umpires. He impressed the ICC with his accurate decision making, and was chosen to umpire at the ICC Cricket World Cup in early 2003, where he was one of the better performing umpires. His high standard was again rewarded when 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 the neutral umpire in ODI matches away from Pakistan.

His consistently excellent performances earned him a promotion, and in April 2004 he became the first Pakistani to be part of the Emirates ICC Elite Umpire Panel. Since then he has been regarded as one of the top umpires, being nominated for the ICC Umpire of the year Award in 2005 and 2006, although he was beaten on both occasions by the Australian Simon Taufel, who is also very highly regarded. 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 record time, taking just seven years, and is this first Pakistani to officiate in a century of One-day internationals.

Dar has stood in numerous high profile matches, including several India-Pakistan ODI matches and five Ashes test matches. He was also one of the on-field umpires for the final of the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy, standing alsong side Rudi Koertzen. The highlight of his career so far, however, has been his appointment to stand in the final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup between Australia and Sri Lanka, where he officiated with Steve Bucknor. He has, however, never stood in a test match in Pakistan, because his appointment in the international panel came after the introduction of neutral umpires for test matches.

His career has also had some controversial moments though. These include death threats being made against Dar and his colleague Steve Bucknor during the Test match between England and South Africa at Centurion in January 2005 ^[1]. Dar also received criticism for two decisions he gave during the England-Australia Test match at Trent Bridge in 2005, giving Damien Martyn out LBW when he had gotten an inside edge on the ball, and then Simon Katich leg before to a delivery which pitched outside leg stump and would have bounced over the stumps^{[citation needed]}. Aleem Dar's showed very good judgement in an Ashes 2005 match by declaring Michael Atherton not-out (with Shane Warne bowling) when Atherton appeared to be plumb lbw but had in-fact gotten an edge^[2]. He was also involved in controversy in the 2007 Cricket World Cup final where he, along with fellow officials Bucknor, Koertzen, Bowden and Crowe were unaware of the playing conditions regarding the result of a match under the Duckworth-Lewis system, and 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 Twenty20 World Championship.

However, Dar's dedication, professionalism and generally excellent decision-making ability have ensured that he has become one of the world's top rated umpires. On-field he is unobtrusive and unofficious when dealing with the players, and this is also reflected in his signals which are low key and sedate compared to other international umpires, and these are some of the reasons he is so higly regarded by both players and spectators. The fact that Dar's name rarely appears in the press is testament to his ability as an umpire, reflecting that he never tries to impose himself on the games he umpires, and more importantly that he gets decisions right. Notably Dar and Billy Bowden received high praise from many pundits for the standard of umpiring in the series between England and West Indies in June 2007, in which both umpires made many correct decisions in difficult umpiring conditions.

[edit] Umpiring Statistics

	First	Last	Total
Tests	Bangladesh v England at Dhaka, Oct 2003	West Indies v Australia at Kingston, May 2008	47
ODIs	Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Gujranwala, Feb 2000	Pakistan v Bangladesh at Faisalabad, Apr 2008	108