Umpires are always in the game. It goes with the territory. Off the field an umpire might be as unassuming as an undertaker's suit but on it they have to be assertive, ready to make instantaneous, game-shifting decisions and stand by them.
Mistakes are bound to be made as Asaf Raud demonstrated in Kandy and Daryl Harper proved with unnerving certainty on the first day at Colombo. No matter: it is to crickets' credit that by and large the players tolerate and understand human error.
The umpires are merely part of an extended family. They rub along with the players. The new breed take this further by going down to nets before matches and assessing how bowlers bowl and how batsmen bat.
Aleem Dar, the second best umpire in the world (to Simon Taufel of Australia) and rising fast took it a significant stage further before the Colombo Test. He visited the Sri Lankan team's practice at the SSC ground and and actually batted in the nets for a few balls against Muttiah Muralitharan, world record breaker extraordinaire? No, he couldn't read him either.
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