Umpiring is one of the toughest tasks in international cricket since the batsmen are never satisfied with the umpire’s decision when he declares them out, particularly lbw.
Television commentators watch slow-motion replays from several angles, often several times, before pronouncing their judgment, but the umpire standing in the ground has to give a verdict from a distance of more than 22 yards and that too immediately after the ball has been delivered.
The ICC’s system of Elite Panel Umpires and Referees came into effect in April 2002. Elite Panel umpires now stand at both ends in all Test matches and there is one member standing with a home umpire for all One-day Internationals.
Pakistan’s Aleem Dar created history on January 2 when he stepped in at Newlands, Cape Town, to officiate the second Test between South Africa and England. He became only the third umpire of the ICC Elite Panel of umpires to complete 100 Tests. Before Dar, only Steve Bucknor (128) and Rudi Koertzen (108) had had the honour.
"I am delighted and proud to reach this significant personal milestone. It is amazing to think how quickly time has flown. I am extremely grateful to people for all the support I have received throughout the years, not least from the Pakistan Cricket Board as well as the International Cricket Council," said delighted Dar on the occasion.
ICC General Manager Geoff Allardice also praised him: "Aleem has been one of the best and most respected umpires in world cricket for many years. It is not easy to umpire at the elite level for more than a decade, and his professionalism, consistency and reliability have allowed him to perform so well for so long."
So far the 47-year-old Dar has supervised 100 Tests, 178 One-day Internationals and 35 Twenty20 Internationals.
Dar completed 100 ODIs in a record seven years. He is the first Pakistani to supervise 100 ODIs. Dar proved his accuracy at the 2011 Cricket World Cup in India, when all the 15 appeals against his judgments were turned down.
Aleem Sarwar Dar, following his retirement after playing 17 first-class matches, made his umpiring debut on February 16, 2000, in a One-day International between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Gujranwala.
After supervising ODIs for three years, he made his first appearance in Tests in a Bangladesh-England match in Dhaka in October 2003.
Interestingly, Dar has never umpired a Test match in Pakistan, because his appointment in the ICC panel came after the introduction of neutral umpires for Test matches.
He was elected in the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires panel in 2004 and became one of the most respected umpires in the world for his accurate decisions.
In recognition of his consistent outstanding performance, Dar was declared the Umpire of the Year for three consecutive years: in 2009, 2010 and 2011. He ended Simon Taufel’s run of five successive awards.
He was also nominated for the Award in 2005 and 2006, but on both occasions Taufel won the honour.
The government of Pakistan recognised his services by bestowing upon him the highest civil award, "Pride of Performance", in 2011. He also received "Sitara-e-Imtiaz" in 2013.
In October last year, before BCCI president Shashank Manohar and PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan meeting in Mumbai a group of Shiv Sena activists stormed into the BCCI headquarters, shouting anti-Pakistan slogans and demanding the cancellation of the proposed Pak-India series.
They also demanded that all Pakistani commentators and umpire Aleem Dar leave India.
Dar was scheduled to umpire in the fourth and fifth One-day Internationals between India and South Africa, in Chennai and Mumbai.
But Shiv Sena threatened to stop Dar from officiating in the Mumbai ODI. ICC withdrew Dar from the two ODIs and asked him to leave India to avoid any mishap.
He has made some recommendations to the PCB to improve the standard of umpiring in Pakistan, including using television footage in domestic matches as a review-tool for the officials.