leem Dar, Pakistan’s national hero in cricket umpiring, Wednesday said that winning the ICC best umpire award for the third consecutive year was a great achievement for him but actually it was the award for the country and the nation who prayed a lot for this honour for him.
Talking to Waqt News exclusively, Dar said: “The third award in a row is a result of prayers of the nation who love me a lot and it is actually the award of the nation.”
“It is a great honour for me to get the award for my country and I shall try to maintain my performance to win more awards for my country. I try to carry out my job with utmost honesty and it is the only secret behind my success,” said Aleem, who has officiated in 67 Tests, 146 one-dayers and 18 Twenty20 matches.
Dar said that award’s hat-trick was a great honour for him and he really worked hard for it as the year of 2010 was very tough especially umpiring in World Cup was tough task but by the grace of Allah, he had done done his best and got rewarded for his hard work.
He also demanded central contract for top umpires of the country like the national team players had been having for their better livelihood. “Umpiring is never easy amongst technology paraphernalia and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should give attention to this field as well by giving central contracts to the top umpires of the country so that Pakistani umpires continue winning laurels for the country.”
He said that along with right decisions, the report of captains also mattered a lot. “The captains of most of the teams trust me a lot and report me positively which matters a lot along with right decisions.”
He further said that top ranking teams of the world always wish to have me as umpire in their matches. “The top ranking teams like Australia, England and South Africa want me to umpire their matches and they have good trust in me.” He said that it was unfortunate for Pakistan that no international team was coming here. He also underscored the need to give more heed to domestic cricket.