Watch: Aleem Dar Suffers Painful Knee Injury After Colliding With Mitchell Santner

The ongoing first Test between Australia and New Zealand in Perth is a historic game for Pakistani umpire Aleem Dar. As soon as he stepped on the field, Aleem Dar surpassed Steve Bucknor’s record for officiating in most number of Test matches as an umpire. The 51-year-old, who took up umpiring after a decade of playing first-class cricket in Pakistan, is standing in his 129th Test match as on-field umpire.

Aleem Dar made his debut as umpire in Dhaka in 2003 during England’s tour of Bangladesh. One of the best umpires in the circuit now, he has officiated in 207 ODIs and is only two matches shy of the record of 209 matches in that format held by Rudi Koertzen of South Africa. Dar has also officiated in 46 T20 internationals.

“This is one milestone I had never thought of when I began my umpiring career. It is a truly amazing feeling and a high point of my life when I take the field here in Australia; thousands of miles from where I started my international career at home in Gujranwala,” Dar had told ICC before the start of the match.

Memorable match turns painful:

Aleem Dar’s world record game, nonetheless, turned painful after collision with New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner on Saturday. He was writhing on the ground in pain after his left knee collided with Santner’s during play. The incident took place when New Zealand were trying to run out Joe Burns who dived to make his ground.

Also Read: Have New Zealand Finally Discovered Steve Smith’s Weakness?

As Burns was running towards the non-striker’s end, Santner rushed towards the stumps as Dar ran the other way to avoid the ball. However, Dar and Santner smacked into each other and the former fell to the ground while grimacing in pain. Dar was soon attended by the physios and managed to continue umpiring after some strapping and taking painkilling pills.

Here is a clip of that incident: