LAHORE: Pakistan’s Aleem Dar became the first umpire from the country to achieve the milestone of supervising 200 One-day International matches when he came to officiate the match between West Indies and Bangladesh in Dublin on Tuesday.

Aleem is only the third man to achieve the feat after New Zealand’s Billy Bowden, and South Africa’s Rudi Kortzen.

“I am thankful to God, Pakistan Cricket Board the International Cricket Council, my family members all Pakistanis and my fans the world over and my cricket club P and T Gymkhana, Lahore as without their support it was not possible for me,” Aleem said.

“Until I am fit I will continue to perform my job to serve the cricket and to brighten the name of my country.”

Aleem has also umpired in 125 Tests and is three short of Steve Bucknor’s record of 128 Tests. He is sitting on top of the tree in T20Is with 43 matches.

”I feel honoured to have reached 200 ODIs. Not only the number of matches, it has been a privilege to be in the elite company of some of the best match officials, to watch the best players of this century around the globe and be involved in some of the most fascinating cricket matches,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 8th, 2019