Aleem Dar

Aleem Sarwar Dar (Born: June 6 1968, 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. However, he has never stood in a test match in Pakistan because, being a young umpire, he was only appointed to the international panel in 2002, after a policy of two neutral umpires in a test match was introduced.

Dar's dedication, professionalism and decision-making ability have earned him the respect of both the players and spectators alike, and ensure that he is regarded as one of the very best umpires.

Umpiring Statistics

	First	Last	Total
Tests	Bangladesh v England at Dhaka, Oct 2003	Australia v England at Sydney, Jan 2007	37
ODIs	Pakistan v Sri Lanka at Gujranwala, Feb 2000	New Zealand v Australia at Auckland, Feb 2007	77

External links

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