Australia vs New Zealand: Aleem Dar collides with Mitchell Santner on the field

Pakistan’s umpire Aleem Dar was nearly left in tears in the ongoing first Test between Australia and New Zealand in Perth after he suffered a nasty collision with spinner Mitchell Santner. The veteran umpire was standing as the main umpire when he collided with the New Zealand spinner and soon fell down on the ground.

The incident took place on day three of the Test when Joe Burns and Marnus Labuschagne tried to take a tight single. But before they could cross for the single, bowler Tim Southee caught the ball, turned back and threw the ball at the stumps. In the meantime, Burns was well outside of his crease and turned back in a hurry to make his ground.

He dived desperately to avoid a runout. Santner, on the other hand, charged to catch the ball and do the rest. But before he could do that, Aleem Dar came in his way and Santner’s knee collided with the umpire’s knee. And while Santner looked fine after the collision, Dar fell to the ground while grimacing in pain.

He was soon attended by New Zealand physio. And fortunately after receiving the medical help, he managed to stand up and officiate for the remainder of the day. Dar also received a standing ovation from the crowd as he stood up on his feet.

Here is a clip of that incident: 

Day one: Injury to Lochie Ferguson (NZ)
Day two: Injury to Josh Hazlewood (AUS)
Day three: Injury to Aleem Dar (ICC) 😬@bet365_aus | #AUSvNZ pic.twitter.com/grK4pumMz8

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 14, 2019

A historic game for Aleem Dar

The ongoing game is a historic one for Aleem Dar as he broke Steve Bucknor’s record of most Test matches while officiating this match. Dar, who took umpiring after playing first-class cricket for nearly a decade, made his debut in 2003 and is one of the best umpires in the world for years now. He is also in line to break the record of officiating the most number of ODIs.

So far, Dar has officiated in 207 ODIs and is only two matches shy of the record of 209 matches in that format held by Rudi Koertzen. Dar has also officiated in 46 T20 internationals.

Watch: Quinton de Kock’s brilliant runout in MSL 2019