New Delhi: Popular umpire Aleem Dar stepped down from the ICC’s Elite Panel after an illustrious career of 19 years. This does not mean that Dar has retired from umpiring international games, he can be there for home games in Pakistan if PCB chooses him to officiate a game. The umpire has stood in 435 games, including four World Cup finals.
In a statement, Dar said that he had the pleasure and honour of umpiring across the world over and he did not even dream of achieving so much when he began. He added that he is keen to continue as an international umpire, but thought it was the right time to step down from ICC’s Elite Panel.
Dar also gave a message to fellow umpires and asked them to ‘work hard, maintain discipline and never stop learning’. He also thanked the ICC, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and his colleagues on the panel for their support. He also stated that he will be ‘serving the game’ as an umpire in the future as well.
His achievements can be understood by the fact that he was the first umpire from Pakistan to be on the Elite Panel and went on to be an umpire in the most number of Tests and ODIs in men’s cricket. He stood as an umpire in 144 Tests and 222 ODIs.
Dar has been one of the umpires at the 2007 and 2011 World Cup finals and in the T20 World Cup finals in 2010 and 2012.
The ICC included Adrian Holdstock from South Africa and Ahsan Raza from Pakistan in their Elite panel.
