[WATCH] Pakistan team presents a signed jersey to umpire Aleem Dar as he steps away from ICC elite panel
The Pakistan cricket team recently honored the umpire, Aleem Dar, as he recently stepped down from the ICC's elite panel of umpires. Dar officiated over 400 international matches across the world, including multiple ICC events, before calling time on his career on the panel.
After the second ODI against New Zealand on Sunday (April 30), Babar Azam and his teammates presented a signed jersey to Aleem Dar, honoring his umpiring career in the ICC elite panel. Pakistan Cricket Board's Instagram handle gave a glimpse of it by sharing a video. They captioned it:
"A gesture of respect and admiration! Pakistan team presented a signed jersey to Aleem Dar, honouring his remarkable career as an elite panel umpire. #PAKvNZ | #CricketMubarak
You can watch the video below:
Fakhar Zaman drives Pakistan to take a lead of 2-0 against New Zealand
After being asked to bat first, New Zealand notched up 336/5 in 50 overs. Daryl Mitchell (129) hit his second century on the trot and starred for the visitors in the batting department. Kiwi captain Tom Latham (98) and opener Chad Bowes (51) also played valuable knocks.
In reply, Fakhar Zaman (180*) played a marvelous match-winning knock to see his side home in a steep chase. Babar Azam (65) and Mohammad Rizwan (54*) supported him well as Pakistan went on to finish the chase in 48.2 overs. Reflecting on the win, Babar Azam said:
"As a captain, it's very satisfying when your team responds and steps up. We have the template on how we want to play in this format. When I came out there, it was all about keeping the required rate under 7. Fakhar, what to tell about him. Just blew away my mind with that knock.
"The plan was to bat long and one batter has to bat long to chase this down. This is exactly what happened. It was very key and thanks to almighty it went very well today."
The two sides will next face each other in the third ODI of the five-match series on Wednesday, May 3 at Karachi.