History of India vs Pakistan test matches at Karachi.Tag
Article
 Would you believe that the first time ever Indian team toured Pakistan,
way back in December 1954, all the five test matches were draws.
Pakistan batted first in the first test and made 257 runs at the rate
of 1.8 runs per over and that was the story of virtually whole series.
So we can safely say that making dead pitches and EARNING a draw
against us is nothing new to Pakistan. Anyways, I want to restrict this
post of mine to the test matches our team has played at Karachi so far,
the venue for last test on this 2006 tour..26th Feb to 1st March - 1955(4 day test match) :- It was the last test of that series and Pakistan did try to win it. They had made 162 in the first innings and bowled out India for 145. But in their second innings, Alimuddin made quick 103 runs with 15 fours. He was the lone boundary hitter of that test match. India got a target of 259 or to negotiate 32 over from Pakistan. They did the latter, with the loss of two wickets. Here's the scorecard of that boring test match. 14th to 19th Nov - 1978 :- Our team landed in Pakistan after a gap of 18 years and again Karachi was the last venue for them. This is a test match that Bishen Singh Bedi gifted to Pakistan. He was the Captain on that tour in 1978 and Sunil Gavaskar had made century in both the innings - 111 and 137 and ultimately, Pakistan were given a target of 164 runs with minimum of 20 over of game remaining, and only 35 Min's more to go. Pakistan promoted Asif Iqbal up the order and Javed Miadad at one down. As Karsen Ghavri puts it - "They displayed onedayer's kind of running between the wickets, way before its time. We could have easily drawn the test match, but Bedi wanted to buy wickets. He kept on tossing the ball up to Imran Khan, hoping that he will  miss hit one, which he didn't." Hats off to you Mr. Bedi, you are a hero!! The scorecard(2).4th to 9th Nov - 1984 :- This match was called off after then Prime Minister Indira Ganghi's assassination. This is what captain Sunil Gavaskar has to say after the series - "despite the best efforts of the Pakistan umpires to favour the home team we have managed to draw the Test series and that is a miracle. Before embarking on the tour of Pakistan we expected close decisions, but what happened in the Lahore Test was pre-planned and pre-determined. The umpiring was poor, but the comments inevitably caused a storm. The pitches were again featherbeds." One more important things here is Karachi again was scheduled to be the last venue of the series. I wonder if there is something to do with Pakistan always choosing Karachi as the closing ceremony?? 15th to 20th Nov. 1989 :- Don't confuse, 18th of November was a rest day. This test series saw Sanjay Manjrekar as the new batting star and in this first test, he batted 350 minutes for his 113 runs to save the match for India. This test match also saw two neutral umpires - John Hampshire and John holder as Pakistan had taken undue advantage in the previous series with their own umpires. The scorecard(3). 29th January to 2nd Feb :- Wait for 4 more days to personally witness the test match, and hope that they don't try to take undue advantage by making a dead wicket again. Related Articles |