Aleem Dar excited to officiate his first ever T20I in Pakistan

Three-time ‘ICC Umpire Of The Year’ award winner Aleem Dar is looking forward to umpiring his first T20 international at home. Having been assigned the duty of officiating in the Independence Cup he mentioned that it’s going to be a memorable feeling for him supervising a T20I game in his own country.

Having umpired in over 300 international games, Aleem Dar has officiated the most number of international matches in the history of the game. While he has officiated as an umpire in 41 T20 Internationals, none of them has been played in Pakistan.

He will only be supervising the opening game between World XI and Pakistan before flying to Dubai to attend an umpiring workshop being held under the aid of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Dar interacted with the media ahead of the historic series.

On officiating his first T20I in Pakistan

“It is going to be a different event as it has its own significance and is going to be a memorable moment of my career,” he said. “I have achieved a number of milestones in my umpiring career but standing in my own home ground will be something which I will always cherish in my memories as I have supervised a lot of T20 games abroad,” Dar added.

Significance of the game

“It is a historic moment that the ICC-chosen World XI having noted players from seven cricket-playing countries is playing in Pakistan and definitely it is going to have a long lasting impact on the country’s cricket,”

He further gave credit to the collective efforts of the native Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the ICC for bringing international cricket back to the country.

“The tour of World XI will be a defining moment in Pakistan cricket and will give a tremendous boost to the PCB’s efforts for overall development of the game.”