Pakistan in India - a retrospective
**Pakistan in India - a retrospective
**By Scott Heinrich
**Pakistan’s current tour of India is their first there for six years and sixth overall dating back to 1952/53.
Of the 27 Tests played between the two sides in India - including a one-off Asian Test Championship match in 1999 - the hosts have won five, Pakistan four with 18 draws.
BBC Sport takes a look back at these contests between two fierce arch-rivals. **
**1952/53, INDIA WON FIVE-TEST SERIES 2-1 **
Legendary all-rounder Vinoo Mankad took 8-52 and 5-79 as Lala Amarnath’s India took an early lead with a crushing innings victory over Abdul Kardar’s Pakistan in Delhi.
Fortunes turned sharply in the second Test at Lucknow, with a rejigged Pakistani attack led by Fazal Mahmood (match figures of 12-94) and Nazar Mohammad’s unbeaten 124 sinking India by an innings.
But the see-saw swung back India’s way in Bombay as they reclaimed the lead with a 10-wicket win built around centuries from Vijay Hazare and Polly Umrigar.
A wildly erratic series was dampened by the washed-out fourth-Test draw in Madras, and Pakistan’s bafflingly slow scoring in Calcutta ensured that the first ever Test series between the two teams would be won by India.
**1960/61, FIVE-TEST SERIES DRAWN 0-0 **
Although centurions Hanif Mohammad and Saeed Ahmed kept Pakistan’s second wicket intact for most of the first day, rain meant the first Test in Bombay was unable to reach a natural conclusion.
The second Test in Kanpur had no such problems, but with Pakistan batting for nigh on 200 overs for their first-innings 335 another draw was always on the cards.
A declaration by Pakistan captain Fazal Mahmood set up the possibility of a result in Calcutta, but a target of 268 and an asking rate of five per over did not tempt India.
Onto Madras, where a batting paradise ensured massive first-innings scores, marathon spells for bowlers and another stalemate.
A century from Umrigar in Delhi helped India total 463 batting first in the final Test, and a five-wicket haul from Vaman Kumar saw Pakistan follow on and look in danger of defeat.
But Nari Contractor’s side failed to knock Pakistan over quickly enough second time around, with the visitors seeing off 127.4 overs for 250 runs.
**1979/80, INDIA WON SIX-TEST SERIES 2-0 **
The drawn first Test in Bangalore highlighted by Mudassar Nazar’s first-innings century was followed another in Delhi, but the second Test was anything but a bore draw.
India looked on top when Kapil Dev’s 5-58 helped skittle Asif Iqbal’s visitors for 273 in the first innings.
But, on a docile deck, paceman Sikander Bakht stunned India with figures of 8-69, ripping out Sunil Gavaskar’s India for 126 in 41.5 overs virtually on his own.
After dismissing Pakistan for 242 in the second innings, India faced a victory target of 390 and a visiting attack minus Imran Khan, who had become injured during the match.
After 131 overs, six wickets and Dilip Vengsarkar’s unbeaten 146 off 370 balls, honours were declared even with India just 26 runs short of victory.
Pakistan’s inability to bowl India out seemed to affect them, and they dropped the third Test in Bombay after twice being dismissed for sub-200 scores.
Bad weather made sure the fourth Test in Kanpur was of little consequence, but India put the series out of Pakistan’s reach with a thumping 10-wicket win in Madras that was built around Gavaskar’s 166 and Kapil’s match figures of 11-144.
**1983/84, THREE-TEST SERIES DRAWN 0-0 **
Nobody was in much of a hurry to force a result in the first Test in Calcutta, despite seven hours of play lost to rain.
The teams were separated by just 13 runs on first-innings scores, but a combined run-rate of barely over two meant that Gavaskar’s 28th Test century in the second dig was for the record book only.
Again, rain stripped the second Test in Jalandhar of seven hours but Aunshuman Gaekwad did as much to rob the game of a result as the weather.
Gaekwad’s 201 not only kept Kapil Dev’s India safe - they had fallen to 131-4 in reply to 337 - but, scored off 436 balls, it was then the slowest-ever first-class double century.
The five hours lost to rain in the final Test in Nagpur probably deprived the series of a victor, as Pakistan were faced with a fourth-innings chase of just 186.
They had worked into a strong position on the back of skipper Zaheer Abass’s 85 in the first-innings and Mohammad Nazir’s 5-72 in the second, but time was the only winner.
**1986/87, PAKISTAN WON FIVE-TEST SERIES 1-0 **
To this day, Imran Khan is the only Pakistan captain to leave India with a Test series victory under his belt.
The legendary all-rounder was in good form throughout, starting in the drawn first Test in Madras where his 135, including 14 boundaries and five sixes, was the highlight.
India had the visitors on the ropes in the second Test in Calcutta, with Mohammad Azharuddin’s 141 and Roger Binny’s 6-56 allowing Kapil Dev to declare with only three second-innings wickets down.
But, faced with a tough target of 356, Pakistan dug in for 87 overs to reach 179-5, with Javed Miandad marshalling the resistance.
India again were on top in Jaipur after Azharuddin and Ravi Shastri stroked centuries in the hosts’ first-innings 465-8 declared.
Pakistan replied with just 341 despite Rameez Raja’s 114, but a washed-out third day meant the third Test would end in a draw.
The fourth Test in Ahmedabad saw Ijaz Faqih score a century and Pakistan bat for the first two days for just 395 runs.
An up-and-coming Wasim Akram took 4-60 to help establish a first-innings advantage, but time was on nobody’s side and a draw eventuated.
It teed up a classic encounter in the fifth Test at Bangalore, where it took a spinner’s dream track to separate the sides.
Pakistan seemed anything but eventual winners when left-arm tweaker Maninder Singh’s 7-27 sent them packing for just 116.
A fifty to Vengsarkar helped India pass that total for the loss of four wickets, but Iqbal Qasim (5-48) and Tauseef Ahmed (5-54) combined to pluck out the last six wickets for 19 runs.
Pakistan totalled a creditable 249 second time around, setting India 221 to win in plenty of time.
Despite Gavaskar’s heroic 96, India fell 16 agonising runs short with Pakistan’s spin twins again doing the damage.
**1998/99, TWO-TEST DRAWN 1-1 **
Anil Kumble was at the peak of his powers in this mini-series, but even his 6-70 in the first innings of the first Test at Chennai could not save India.
A stunning 141 from Shahid Afridi in a second-innings score of 286 set India 271 to win, but despite an equally majestic 136 from Sachin Tendulkar they fell 12 runs short.
Saqlain Mushtaq, who had taken a brace of five-wicket hauls at Chennai, repeated the dose in Delhi but the second Test would go down in history very much as Kumble’s.
Faced with a mammoth target of 420 to win, Pakistan crumbled in the face of a Kumble onslaught.
The leg-spinner achieved the holy grail of bowling, taking all 10 wickets to emulate England’s Jim Laker 43 years prior. “It’s all still a dream,” Kumble later said. “I still can’t get over it.”
Story from BBC SPORT:
Published: 2005/02/28 08:40:51 GMT
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