Pakistan hosted its first home Test match at Dhaka in January 1955. The umpires were Daud Khan and Idrees Baig, both former first-class players. Daud was a middle-order batsman who had represented Sind and even played in the inaugural first-class match on Pakistani soil, between Punjab and Sind at the Bagh e Jinnah in Lahore. Idrees Baig had played as an all-rounder for Delhi with some distinction, with a century and 23 wickets at an average of 13.60 against his name.

Shujauddin Siddiqui and Masood Salahuddin were also introduced as umpires during that initial series. Masood Salahuddin’s case is fascinating. He was an active first class cricketer and despite that was asked to umpire the match between the touring Indian team and the Combined Services from 8th-10th February. This was also his first-class umpiring debut. Just eight days after functioning as an umpire he captained the North Zone against the same Indian side in a tour match from 18th-20th February The following week he was again assigned umpiring duties, this time in the final test match of the series at Karachi from 26th February to 1st March. This is perhaps the only occasion in cricket history when an active player, within a three week period, umpires a tour game and a Test match against a visiting international side, and in between the two captains a team in a first-class match against them as well.

Interestingly Masood only umpired one further first-class match in his life and that too was against a visiting international team, the MCC A side in early 1956. Against them, too, he functioned as an umpire in one first class match and as captain of a local team in another. So, Masood’s entire umpiring career was limited to a solitary test match and two first-class matches between local teams and visiting international sides. This is without parallel in cricket history.

Since 1955, Pakistan has had 33 test umpires, 38 umpires for ODIs and 9 who have officiated in T20 games. 20 umpires have officiated in both Tests and ODI’s, 9 have stood in both ODI’s and T20s, while 4 have umpired in all three formats of the international game.

In Test matches Aleem Dar holds the world record for umpiring in 136 Tests in a long career going back to 2000. He is followed by Asad Rauf with 49 Tests in a career that began in 2005 but was as prematurely aborted in 2013. In May that year Asad was named in IPL spot-fixing investigations and withdrawn by the ICC from standing in the Champions Trophy scheduled for that year. In June he was dropped from the ICC’s elite panel of umpires following which he resigned from umpiring altogether. He was subsequently found guilty in 2016 by a Mumbai Court and banned from umpiring for 5 years in matches under the purview of the Indian Cricket Board.

Khizar Hayat is third on the Pakistan test umpires list having stood in 34 Tests. A retired first-class cricketer who played sparingly for Punjab and Pakistan Railways as a wicket-keeping batsman Hayat served as a test umpire from 1980 to 1996. He was one of two Pakistani umpires originally nominated on the International Panel of Umpires established by the ICC in 1994, when it decided to have at least one neutral umpire in every Test. This panel’s function was largely replaced by the establishment of the Elite Panel of ICC umpires in 2002.

Next on the list of Pakistani Test umpires is Mahboob Shah with 28 Tests. Another former first-class cricketer, he was, along with Hayat, the second Pakistani umpire on the original ICC International Panel. His Test umpiring career spanned 22 years between 1975 and 1997.

Shujauddin Siddiqui had played in the Ranji Trophy for Delhi before turning to umpiring. He was one of the umpires for Pakistan’s inaugural home Test series in 1955 and bowed out from test umpiring after the third and final Test at Karachi of another Pakistan-India series in 1978. He umpired 22 Tests. No other Pakistani umpire has officiated in more than 20 test matches. Javed Akhtar and Shakoor Rana both stood in 18 tests each. Javed Akhtar was a good off spinner who had enjoyed much success in first-class cricket and played a solitary test for Pakistan as well on its ill-fated tour of England in 1962. He umpired in Tests from 1980 to 1998.

Shakoor Rana was the brother of Test batsmen Shafqat Rana and Azmat Rana and the father of Mansoor Rana and Maqsood Rana, who both played ODIs for Pakistan. He played some first-class cricket himself as an all-rounder of modest ability, but is best remembered for his famous spat with the England captain Mike Gatting during England’s tour of Pakistan in 1987. During the second test of the series at Faisalabad, as the square leg umpire, he noticed that Gatting was moving a fielder while the bowler was running in to bowl. He stopped play and his fellow umpire Khizar Hayat declared ‘dead ball’. Gatting objected as the fielder being moved was behind the batsman’s line of vision, but Shakoor Rana held firm as his decision was in accordance with the rules of the game. A heated exchange followed, with boorish behavior from the England captain, that led to the loss of a day’s play and almost the cancellation of the tour.

Controversy was not new to Pakistani umpiring. During the MCC ‘A’ team’s tour of Pakistan in 1955-56, during the 3rd unofficial Test at Peshawar, the Pakistani umpire Idrees Baig was abducted by a few English players from the Services Club and taken to the Dean’s Hotel where the British team was housed. Here he was drenched with a bucket of water, which the English players claimed was just a harmless prank. It was certainly more than that. It was coarse and uncouth behaviour that merited censure and severe reprimand. Only intervention at the highest levels of government salvaged the tour from abandonment.

The list of ODI umpires again has Aleem Dar at the top with a world record of 211 appearances. The next two names are the same as in the Test umpires list, Asad Rauf with 98 ODIs and Khizar Hayat with 55.

At number four, is a new name, Nadeem Ghauri. Nadeem played one test and six ODIs for Pakistan in 1990 and ended up with the unfortunate record of neither scoring a run nor taking a wicket in Test cricket. He turned to umpiring in the year 2000 and had a 10 year international umpiring career, officiating in 5 Tests and 43 ODIs. In 2009, on the third day of the second test versus Sri Lanka at Lahore, he was one of the umpires traveling in the team bus to the Gaddafi Stadium, with the Sri Lankan team when it was subjected to a terrorist attack. Nadeem was fortunately unhurt. However, in 2013, Nadeem’s umpiring career came to an ignominious end when he was banned from umpiring for four years by the PCB, after being found guilty of being willing to accept money to influence umpiring decisions.

Next in the ODI list is Javed Akhtar with 40 appearances, followed by a new entrant Ahsan Raza with 37. Ahsan Raza is another ex-cricketer who turned to umpiring in 2010. He is Pakistan’s nominated 3rd umpire on the ICC’s International Panel of Umpires. He was also chosen by the ICC as one of the umpires for the 2018 Under-19 World Cup and has umpired in the 2018 and 2020 Women’s T20 World Cup as well. Ahsan Raza was the second umpire involved in the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009. He was shot twice and sustained lung injuries from which he fortunately recovered. Ahsan has also umpired in two Tests.

Mahboob Shah is next on the ODI list having umpired 32 times, but is followed by two new names. Saleem Badar has officiated in 29 ODIs and Shozab Raza in 24. Saleem has stood in 5 Test matches as well. Shakoor Rana is another umpire who has umpired more than 20 ODIs, his tally being 22.

Nine Pakistani umpires have officiated in T20 Internationals. The list is again headed by Aleem Dar with a record total of 53, but he is closely followed by Ahsan Raza on 52. Shozab Raza has umpired in 37 and Asad Rauf in 23.

Zameer Haider a former first class cricketer has stood in 12 International T20s, Ahmad Shadab in 9, Asif Yaqoob in 6, while Nadeem Ghauri has 4 to his credit.

The one name that has consistently headed all lists is the incomparable Aleem Dar. Born in 1962, he played first class cricket for various local teams as a right handed batsman and leg spin bowler. His international umpiring career began in 2000 and continues today. In April 2004, he became the first Pakistani to be chosen for the Elite Panel of ICC umpires.

He won the David Shepherd Trophy for the best ICC Umpire of the year for three consecutive years from 2009-2011, after being previously nominated for the award in 2005 and 2006 as well. He has officiated in multiple Cricket World Cups and similar tournaments. He has umpired finals of the Cricket World Cup, ICC World T20 Championships and the ICC Champions Trophy. He holds the world record for most Tests umpired with 136, most ODIs umpired with 211 and most T20s umpired with 53. His overall tally of having umpired in 400 international matches across the three formats of the game is almost 70 matches more than his closest rival Rudi Koertzen of South Africa.

Aleem Dar is a true legend who has brought great honour and fame to Pakistan. He has received a Pride of Performance Award from the Pakistan Government for his achievements and is on everyone’s shortlist as one of the best umpires that the game has ever seen.

Dr Salman Faridi is a senior surgeon, poet, sports aficionado and an avid reader with a private collection of over 7000 books.

salmanfaridilnh@hotmail.com