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NEWS Pakistan in India 2005>India vs Pakistan – Time to Revive the Traditional Rivalry 05th Mar 2005 22.53 IST By Manish Kumar After so much hullabaloo first over the venues and then over the telecast rights, the stage is finally set for the mother of all encounters – India vs Pakistan. The Ashes played between Australia and England, the Frank Worell Trophy played between Australia and the West Indies, or the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for which India and Australia lock horns against each other – all these nerve wrecking contests cannot match the sheer passion, audacity and excitement of a Test series between India and Pakistan. It just simply cannot get bigger or better than this.
Here is how the two archrivals have fared against each other on the cricket field: With the wounds of partition still fresh, the first Test series between India and Pakistan was held in India in 1952-53. Lala Amarnath and Abdul Hafeez Kardar – who played for India on the 1946 tour of England under the name Abdul Hafeez – led the Indian and Pakistani sides respectively and the first Test (4-day match) was held at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground in New Delhi on October 16, 1952. India won the Test by an innings and 70 runs. But Pakistan fought back to win the second Test by an innings and 43 runs in Lucknow. But India won the third Test at Bombay (by 10 wickets) and drew the fourth and fifth Tests in Madras and Calcutta respectively, to win the series 2-1. Apart from Kardar, it was Gul Mohammed, who played both for India (8 Tests) and Pakistan (1 Test). India then toured Pakistan in 1954-55 to play a five-Test series under the captaincy of Vinoo Mankad – one of the greatest allrounders that India has ever produced. All the five Tests (all four-day games) at Dacca, Bhawalpur, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi were drawn. It was then in 1960-61 that Pakistan, under the captaincy of Fazal Mahmood toured India for a five-Test series. India played under the captaincy of Nari Contractor – who at the age of 26, became the youngest Indian captain at that time. All the five Tests of that series – in Bombay, Kanpur, Calcutta, Madras, and Delhi – were drawn. Polly Umrigar was the star for India in the series hitting centuries in Kanpur, Madras and Delhi. India and Pakistan did not play any cricket after 1960-61 till 1978-79, as relations detoriated between the neighbours resulting in wars in 1965 and 1971. Bishan Singh Bedi led India on the ice-breaking 1978-79 series against Pakistan in Pakistan, the first cricket series between the two countries in nearly 18 years. Pakistan were captained by Mushtaq Mohammad. It was during this tour that the great Kapil Dev made his debut in international cricket. India won the first ODI at Quetta (Kapil’s ODI debut) by four runs but lost the second at Sialkot by 8 wickets. After the two ODIs, the first Test was held at Faisalabad (Kapil’s Test debut), which ended in a draw. Pakistan then won the second Test at Lahore by 8 wickets. Zaheer Abbas shone in both the Tests scoring 176 in the first Test and 235 in the second. The third ODI of the series was held in Sahiwal after the two Tests. Pakistan won the game as Bedi conceded the match in protest against the short-pitched bowling tactics of the hosts. Sarfraz Nawaz's last four deliveries were all out of reach of the batsmen, but not called wide by umpires Javed Akhtar and Khizer Hayat. The third and final Test of the series was held in Karachi, which was won by Pakistan by 8 wickets even though Sunil Gavaskar hit tons in both the innings (111 and 137). Pakistan thus won the ODI series 2-1 and the Test series 2-0. Pakistan, under the captaincy of Asif Iqbal, toured India in 1979-80 for a six-Test series. After drawing the first two Tests in Bangalore and Delhi, India captained by Gavaskar, won the third Test by 131 runs in Bombay. The fourth Test of the series at Kanpur also ended in a draw but India won the fifth Test by 10 wickets at Madras. Gavaskar scored 166 runs in the Indian first innings, while Kapil took 11 wickets in the match (4/90 and 7/56). The Pakistanis managed to draw the sixth Test at Calcutta as India won the series 2-0. India, with Gavaskar still the skipper, toured Pakistan for a 4-ODI and 6-Test series in 1982-83. Pakistan, under the captaincy of Imran Khan, won the first ODI at Gujranwala by 14 runs, in which Javed Miandad scored an unbeaten 106. The first Test was played at Lahore after the first ODI. Zaheer Abbas again proved to be India’s nemesis scoring a superb 215 in Pakistan’s first innings. Mohinder Amarnath scored an unbeaten 109 for India and Mohsin Khan remained unbeaten on 101 in Pakistan’s second innings. The Test, though ended in a draw, was memorable for both Zaheer Abbas and Gavaskar: Abbas emulated Geoffrey Boycott in scoring his 100th first-class century in a Test match, while Gavaskar, who scored 83 in the Indian innings, became the fourth player in the world to pass 7000 Test runs. The second ODI was then held in Multan. Mohsin Khan and Zaheer Abbas each scored centuries (117 and 118 respectively), as Pakistan beat India by 37 runs. The second Test held at Karachi marked the debut of Maninder Singh, who at 17 years, became India’s youngest debutant at that time. Dilip Vengsarkar passed 3000 runs during this Test, but India were vanquished by Pakistan by an innings and 86 runs, with Imran Khan taking 8/60 in the Indian second innings after Zaheer Abbas (186) and Muddasar Nazar (119) shone with the bat for Pakistan. Imran took his 200th wicket in the Test, becoming the first Pakistani to do so. He took 5/3 in his last 25 balls, completing Pakistan's best innings analysis against India. India won the rain-curtailed third ODI at Lahore by 18 runs after Zaheer (105) and Miandad (119) shone with the bat for Pakistan. India lost the third Test at Faisalabad by 10 wickets as Imran took 11 wickets in the match – 6/98 in the first innings and 5/82 in the second. This Test saw four Pakistanis scoring centuries in one innings for the first time – Miandad 126, Zaheer Abbas 168, Saleem Malik 107 and Imran 117. Gavaskar carried his bat through the Indian second innings scoring a magnificent 127. Zaheer Abbas became the first Pakistani to score centuries in 3 successive innings and though Kapil took seven wickets, he became the first bowler to concede 200 runs in an innings against Pakistan. India were in for more humiliating defeat as the fourth Test got underway in Sind. Winning the toss, Pakistan declared their first innings at 581/3 with Mudassar Nazar scoring 231 and Miandad remaining not out on 280. Much hue and cry was raised at Imran’s declaration, as Miandad wasn’t able to complete his triple century. It was the first time that two Pakistanis had scored double-centuries in the same innings (the 5th time ever at that time). Zaheer Abbas became the first Pakistani to pass 4000 runs during this Test. Imran took 6/35 (5/8 in 23 balls) as India were made to follow-on and eventually lost the Test by an innings and 119 runs. India lost the last ODI of the series at Karachi by 8 wickets, with Zaheer Abbas scoring 113 runs. The fifth Test of the series was played at Lahore and it was Gundappa Viswanath’s 86th consecutive Test, breaking the record of Sir Garfield Sobers. Muddasar Nazar and Amarnath hit centuries for their teams and Mudassar became the second Pakistani to carry his bat (the first being his father, Nazar Mohammad). Kapil took 8/85, with three wickets coming in the last 5 balls, as the Test ended in a draw. The last Test of the series was played at Karachi and it ended in a draw but it was not short of incident – the afternoon of the fourth day's play was abandoned due to politically motivated rioting – this included an attempt to damage the pitch. Ravi Shastri opened the innings with Gavaskar and scored 128 runs, Syed Kirmani, Mudassar Nazar and Amarnath passed 2000 runs each during this Test, Wasim Bari became the fourth keeper to make 200 dismissals, Mudassar's total of 761 runs set a Pakistani total of runs for any series, beating Hanif Mohammad's 628 (against West Indies in 1957-58) and Imran became the first Pakistani to take 40 wickets in a Test match series. Thus Pakistan won the ODI series 3-1 and the Test series 3-0. Pakistan then toured India in September-October 1983 for two ODIs and three Test series under the captaincy of Zaheer Abbas. India also saw a change at the helm with Kapil replacing Gavaskar as the captain. India won the first ODI at Hyderabad by four wickets and it was followed by the first Test at Bangalore during which Gavaskar hit his 28th Test century – an unbeaten 103 in the second innings. The Test was drawn as seven hours of play was lost due to rain. The second Test of the series was held in Jullundur and it saw Anshuman Gaekwad scoring the slowest double hundred in Test cricket – in 652 minutes. Wasim Raja scored 125 for Pakistan and also took 4 wickets but this Test was also drawn, as there could no play on Day Three due to rain. India then won the second ODI at Jaipur by 4 wickets to win the ODI series 2-0. Rain played spoilsport in the third Test at Nagpur too due to which the Test ended in a draw and the Test series was drawn 0-0. India then toured Pakistan in October-November 1984 under Gavaskar for three-Test and three-ODI series. Pakistan, led by Zaheer Abbas, won the first ODI at Quetta by 46 runs and the first Test at Lahore ended in a draw. Zaheer Abbas and Mohinder Amarnath hit centuries. The second Test at Faisalabad saw a run feast as over 1100 runs were scored. Batting first, India scored 500 with Sandeep Patil scoring 127 and Ravi Shastri scoring 139. Pakistan replied with scoring 674 runs, with Mudassar Nazar scoring 199, Qasim Umar scoring 210 and Saleem Malik scoring 102. The Test was drawn. On October 31, 1984 the second ODI was in progress in Sialkot when the news that the Indian Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Ghandi was assassinated reached the stadium. The match was abandoned as a draw and the rest of the tour was also called off. With Imran Khan back as captain, Pakistan toured India in January-March 1987 for five Tests and six ODIs. It was during this series that great players Mohammad Azharuddin and Wasim Akram played against each other for the first time. India were led by Kapil. Pakistan won the first ODI at Indore by 3 wickets and the first and second Tests in Madras and Calcutta respectively were drawn. Pakistan then won the second ODI at Calcutta by two wickets and the third and fourth Tests at Jaipur and Ahmedabad respectively also ended in draws. It was the fifth Test of the series at Bangalore that was the most intriguing of all. On a vicious turner Maninder Singh took 7/27 to skittle out the Pakistanis for just 116 runs in their first innings. Then the Pak spinners Iqbal Qasim and Tauseef Ahmed took five wickets each to bowl out India for 145 in their first essay. Pakistan then scored 249 runs in the second innings to leave India with a victory target of 221 runs. The Indians were all at seas against Qasim and Ahmed, who took 4 wickets each. It was only the great Gavaskar, who with exquisite and lightning footwork tamed the Pakistani spinners on a pitch that was turning square. The legendary batsman hit a masterful knock of 96 and was the eighth batsman to fall. Some critics rate Gavaskar’s this innings among his best and Miandad even went on record that he hasn’t seen a better display of batting. India lost the Bangalore Test by 16 runs and that enabled Pakistan to register their first-ever Test series win on Indian soil. The third ODI at Hyderabad was also not short of drama. India and Pakistan both scored 212 runs, but India were declared winners because they had lost fewer wickets (6, Pakistan lost 7). Pakistan were two runs away from victory on the last ball. Abdul Qadir tried an impossible second run and was run out thus making India the winner. Unfortunately, the umpires (SK Ghosh and V Vikramraju) failed to notice a fielding infringement - as Kapil ran into bowl the last ball to Manzoor Elahi, only three Indian fielders were stationed in the inner ring. But Pakistan won the next three ODIs at Pune, Nagpur and Jamshedpur to win the 6-ODI series 5-1 after winning the Test series 1-0. India then toured Pakistan in November-December 1989 for four Test and four ODI series under the captaincy of Krishnamachari Srikkanth. It was during the first Test of this series at Karachi that the greats Sachin Tendulkar and Waqar Younis made their debuts in Test cricket. India surprised one and all by drawing all the four Tests at Karachi, Faisalabad, Lahore and Sialkot. The first ODI of the series at Peshawar was abandoned due to poor light. An exhibition match of 20 overs per side was played to please the public, which was won by Pakistan even though Sachin scored 53 runs off just 18 balls. Pakistan won the second ODI at Gujranwala by 7 runs, while the third ODI at Karachi was abandoned due to crowd disruption after Pakistan were reduced to 28/3 by Manoj Prabhakar. Pakistan won the ODI series 3-0 by winning the fourth ODI by 38 runs at Lahore. Relations then soured between the two countries and there were no bilateral series until India toured Pakistan in September-October 1997 for three ODI series billed as Wills Challenge Series, under the captaincy of Sachin. Pakistan, captained by Saeed Anwar won the first ODI at Hyderabad, Sind by 5 wickets. India won the second ODI at Karachi by 4 wickets as Rajesh Chauhan belted a six off the last ball by Saqlain Mushtaq. But Pakistan won the third ODI at Lahore by 9 wickets to win the series 2-1. Under the captaincy of Akram, Pakistan toured India in January 1999 for a three-Test series. The third Test of that series was later included in the inaugural Asian Test Championship. The first Test, played at Chennai, saw amazing cricket from both the teams. Anil Kumble took 6/70 to bowl out Pakistan for 238 runs. Then Saqlain Mushtaq took 5/94 as India were all out for 254 in their first essay. In the second innings, Shahid Afridi scored 141 before Venkatesh Prasad took 6/33 to leave India with a victory target of 271 runs. With an aching back, Sachin stood tall amidst ruins and struck a masterful 136 before he was caught at mid-off by Akram off Saqlain, who took 5/93 in the second innings. India lost the Test by 12 runs and the Chennai crowd gave the Pakistan team a standing ovation. In the second Test played at Delhi, Kumble equalled Jim Laker's 43-year-old record by capturing all the 10 wickets as India defeated Pakistan by 212 runs. Kumble demolished the entire Pakistan innings as the tourists were skittled out for 207 while chasing a daunting 420-run target. Laker had got his 10 wickets against Australia at Old Trafford in 1956. Kumble took 14 wickets in the match, while Saqlain again captured five wickets each in both the innings. The victory also helped India end their 19-year and 16-match win drought against Pakistan. India's last triumph over Pakistan was in 1979 when they had won the six-Test series 2-0. Pakistan won the inaugural Asian Test Championship Test at Calcutta by 46 runs even though they were reduced to 26/6 in 9 overs in their first innings. Javagal Srinath took 5/46 in Pakistan’s first innings, Sachin registered his first golden duck as he was clean bowled by Shoaib Akhtar off the first ball in the Indian first innings. In the second innings, Srinath ran through the Pakistani line-up taking 8/86, but Saeed Anwar hit an unbeaten 188, which left India with a victory target of 279 runs. Sachin was run out in the second innings after colliding with Shoaib and that triggered crowd trouble. In the end, the Test had to be completed in an empty stadium after the police drove out the crowd. Pakistan won the Test by 46 runs. Political tensions again soured between the two countries and it was only in March 2004 that Sourav Ganguly led India to Pakistan for a full tour – five ODIs and three Tests. India won the first ODI at Karachi by 5 runs even though Pak skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq hit a brilliant 122. Sachin (141) became the first Indian to hit a century in an ODI on Pakistan soil but India lost the second ODI at Rawalpindi by 12 runs. Pakistan won the third ODI at Peshawar by 4 wickets, but India fought back through Rahul Dravid (76) and Mohammad Kaif (71) to win the fourth ODI at Lahore. The stylish VVS Laxman hit 107 in the final ODI and enabled India to win the match by 40 runs and the series 3-2. This was the first time that India had won an ODI series on Pakistan soil. India started the Test series with a bang when in the first Test at Multan the swashbuckling Virender Shewag became the first Indian to score a triple century in Test cricket. Propelled by Sehwag’s 309 and Sachin’s unbeaten 194, India piled up a huge score of 675 runs in their first innings. Pakistan lost the Test by an innings and 52 runs even though Yousuf Youhana scored 112 following-on in the second innings in which Kumble took 6/72. This was India’s first ever Test-win on Pakistan soil. Pakistan hit back to win the second Test at Lahore by 9 wickets and levelled the series 1-1. But India powered by a knock of 270 by Dravid, won the third and the decisive Test at Rawalpindi by an innings and 131 runs. India made history by winning their first ever Test series (2-1) against Pakistan on Pakistan soil. Overall, India and Pakistan have played 50 Test matches against each other, with India winning 7 Tests and Pakistan winning 10 Tests. 33 Tests have been drawn. Apart from these bilateral series, India and Pakistan have witnessed some thrilling encounters in one-day internationals in neutral venues like Sharjah and Toronto and multi-national tournaments like the Independence Cup, Asia Cup and of course the World Cup. India and Pakistan have locked horns four times in the World Cup and all the four times India emerged victorious – Sydney in 1992, Bangalore in 1996, Manchester in 1999 and Centurion in 2003. That 1996 World Cup quarterfinal in Bangalore was Pakistan's first match in India since the Nehru Cup final in November 1989. It was the first match under floodlights at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. India scored 57 runs in the final 4 overs, including 22 off a Waqar over – in which Ajay Jadeja ran rampage. Waqar completed 200 wickets in ODIs during this match. The match was Miandad's final ODI and it was Pakistan's first loss against India since the 1992 World Cup and also Pakistan’s first loss against India in India since March 1987 (scores were level, awarded to India for losing fewer wickets). India and Pakistan have played six matches against each other in the Asia Cup. Pakistan have won three matches, India won two matches and one match ended without a result. India and Pakistan played the Sahara Cup in Toronto in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Pakistan won the inaugural edition of the tournament in 1996 3-2, India won 4-1 in 1997 and Pakistan again won in 1998 4-1. India and Pakistan have met only once in the Independence Cup – at Chennai in 1997 when Saeed Anwar notched the highest score in the history of one-day cricket – 194. But it is in Sharjah where Pakistan almost every time have had the upper hand over India. India and Pakistan have played 24 ODIs in Sharjah and India have won only six times. Pakistan have beaten India 18 times at the desert venue. That match winning last-ball six that Miandad hit off Chetan Sharma is still etched fresh in every cricket-enthusiast Indian’s mind. Overall, India and Pakistan have played 95 ODIs out of which India have won 33 matches and Pakistan have emerged victorious on 58 occasions. Four matches ended without result. And now, Pakistan will be playing a full Test series on Indian soil for the first time in six years. India are clear favourites, not only because they have the home advantage, but also because they won both the Test and one-day series in Pakistan last year. India have a very strong batting order starting with Sehwag, Dravid, Sachin, Ganguly and Laxman, with Mohammad Kaif Yuvraj Singh in the ranks. Pakistan have a relatively inexperienced side with only two world class batsmen in their ranks – skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq and Yousuf Youhana . Fast bowling was always considered to be Pakistan’s forte, but this time it is India that holds the edge in this department with a pace attack comprising of Zaheer Khan , Irfan Pathan , Lakshmipathy Balaji and Ashish Nehra , with Ajit Agarkar waiting in the wings hoping to be considered. Pakistan’s pace attack has been seriously damaged with the absence of Shoaib Akhtar, who may later join the squad. In the spin department, India boasts of two world class spinners in Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, while the Pakistanis have the relatively inexperienced Danish Kaneria and Arshad Khan, who last played Test cricket in November 2000. Howsoever favourites India may be tagged and however inexperienced the Pakistan team may be called, but when it comes to a match against each other, there is always an extra eagerness to play, an extra zest of passion to perform and a bigger desire to excel to outsmart the rival. It is time to revive the traditional rivalry – let the ball roll, let the action begin! Also View In-Depth Coverage: Pakistan in India 2005 Team Page: India Team Page: Pakistan | LIVE CRICKET COVERAGE NEWS ~ Gilchrist has no plans to retire after World Cup ~ Ganguly's new batting approach may cost him sixer record ~ India 'squash the Orange' in World Cup warm-up game ~ Symonds gets a new hairdo for World Cup ~ Dhoni readies himself for stand-up act at World Cup (more in NEWS) FACE-TO-FACE ~ 500-mark a possibility in World Cup: Hayden ~ Minnows add charm to World Cup: Dravid (more in FACE-TO-FACE) COLUMNS ~ Will Sri Lanka replicate 1996 World Cup success? (more in COLUMNS) OFF-THE-FIELD ~ Ganguly again the darling of corporate world ~ Ganguly roped in as brand ambassador of Puma (more in OFF-THE-FIELD) PLAYERS Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble (more PLAYERS) TEAMS India, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Australia, West Indies, Zimbabwe, England, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Kenya, Holland | 
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