Aleem Dar: Son of a police officer who was an umpire in the ICC Elite Panel for 19 consecutive years
Pakistani cricket umpire Aleem Dar has resigned from the ICC's elite panel, after which Ahsan Raza and South Africa's Adrian Holdstock have been added to the list.
Aleem Dar, who has umpired the most (435) international matches in the history of cricket, was the first Pakistani to join this elite panel in 2004 and according to the ICC, he is 'one of the most distinguished umpires in international cricket. .'
Explaining the reason for his resignation, Aleem Dar said that after being on the elite panel for 19 years, he "wanted to give the opportunity to someone else from the international panel" to be part of the elite panel.
"When I entered in this profession, I did not even think that I would get so much success from it," he says.
Aleem Dar is close to achieving the record for most Tests and ODIs in T20Is as well.
The ICC introduced the Elite Panel in 2002 to include the best-performing umpires. The list is revised every year but Aleem Dar has been a part of it for 19 consecutive years.
As an umpire, Aleem Dar has been a part of most ODIs and Test matches while he has the second most number of T20 matches as Ahsan Raza has umpired more T20 matches than him. In total, Aleem Dar has umpired in 144 Tests, 222 ODIs, and 69 T20 matches.
He was adjudged the ICC Umpire of the Year for three consecutive years, from 2009 to 2011.
Father and son rule friendship
In an interview given to the ICC, Aleem Dar said that he always wanted to be a Test cricketer. He said, "His father was in the police and was often posted in different cities.
There was no cricket there, so I came to Lahore and started playing cricket. I was selected as the first batsman from Islamia College Civil Lines while (at the same time) Wasim Akram was selected as a bowler.
He says that he tried hard to become a Test cricketer, but when things didn't work out, "I decided to become an umpire."
According to Aleem Dar, he became a Test umpire in one year whereas, in today's era, it takes six to seven years for a cricketer to become a Test umpire. "I was very lucky to become an umpire in one year."
Aleem Dar and his father have this in common they both made it their goal to uphold and enforce laws. The only difference is that the father, as a police officer, ensures the implementation of the country's laws, while Aleem Dar is responsible for enforcing the cricket rules.
Aleem Dar's father retired from the post of Deputy Superintendent of Police. He was very fond of his son and used to take great interest in his umpiring decisions, which were also discussed between the two.
Father's long wish was that Aleem Dar would get the ICC's best umpire award and every year he used to hope that this time Aleem Dar would get the award but three years of waiting passed and when Aleem Dar heard His father was not present in this world when he won the ICC Best Umpire award for the first time in 2009.
It was a tough moment for Aleem Dar when after receiving the ICC award he went straight to his father's grave from the airport and placed the award trophy on it and cried for a long time.
The best test in terms of judgments
In the international career of Aleem Dar, there are many important matches in which his correct decisions are remembered, but the Cardiff Test of the 2009 Ashes series was memorable for him in which his correct decisions were appreciated by all and this made me so happy. This is the same Test match in which James Anderson and Monte Panesar saved England from defeat by playing 11.3 overs. The final moments of this match were no less than a test for Aleem Dar in which he dominated.
Aleem Dar's long list of correct decisions includes giving Sachin Tendulkar lbw off Monte Panesar. It was also Monte Panesar's first wicket in his first Test.
A proof of Aleem Dar's ability to give correct decisions is also the 2011 World Cup in which 15 of his decisions were reviewed and the technology proved that all 15 of them were correct. He was the only umpire in this World Cup whose decision was not proved wrong by DRS.
Aleem Dar has also faced aggressive behavior from captains for his decisions on several occasions, like Australian captain Ricky Ponting in the Melbourne Test of the 2010 Ashes series against him, but he later apologized for his behavior. And it had to be said that he respects Aleem Dar and his discussion was not with Aleem Dar but with technology.
Like a successful cricketer, a successful umpire is also measured by how strong he is physically and mentally and how well his vision is capable of making decisions. Due to these qualities, Aleem Dar has been respected throughout his career.
His fellow umpires recognize his abilities and the cricketers on the field with him know very well that Aleem Dar's decisions can only be thoughtfully challenged as very few of his decisions have been proven wrong and he has set a certain standard of umpiring.
Aleem Dar has a very simple principle about his umpiring that every human being can make a mistake but if a decision is changed, you should not let it take over your mind because it distracts you and you are a And they make mistakes.
By: Abdul Rasheed Shakoor, BBC Urdu, Karachi
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