Aleem Dar

Template:Infobox cricket umpire 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.

	First Class Cricket	List A (Domestic One Day)
Batting Average	11.73	19.88
Bowling (Wickets/Average)	11 / 34.36	15 / 31.66

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 decison 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.

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 . 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. He was also involved in contoversy 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.

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.

Dar is currently officiating in the England v West Indies series, where he has made a number of outstanding decisions, both out and not out.

Umpiring Statistics

	First	Last	Total
Tests	Bangladesh vs England at Dhaka, Oct 2003	England v West Indies at Chester-le-Street, Jun 2007	39
ODIs	Pakistan vs Sri Lanka at Gujranwala, Feb 2000	Australia vs Sri Lanka at Bridgetown, Apr 2007	88

Forthcoming Appointments

India and South Africa in Ireland - ODI Matches at Belfast - June & July 2007

Aleem Dar will stand as an on-field official in the following matches:

• Ireland v South Africa on 24 June
• India v South Africa on 26 June
• India v South Africa on 1 July

Dar will also serve as the TV umpire in the following matches

• Ireland v India on 23 June
• India v South Africa on 29 June

External links

• Profile at Cricinfo website
• News article at Cricinfo about Dar's promotion to Test umpire status