Lateef Jafri: Early tours by Pakistan cricket squads (1 Sep 1997)

01 September 1997

Early tours by Pakistan cricket squads

By Lateef Jafri

The second phase of Pakistan cricket started with the inaugural tour of India in the winter of the 1952-53 season, under the leadership of Abdul Hafeez Kardar.

There could not have been a better captain for a side essentially composed of youngsters for Kardar was a member of the 1946 Indian team to England. He had learnt a lot under the wings of such able skipper as the late Nawab Iftikhar Ali Khan of Pataudi. Besides, Kardar was an Oxford Blue and had assisted Warwickshire as an all-rounder in the county championship. There he had keenly watched one of the shrewdest captains the English counties have produced, H.E. Dollery. There can be little doubt that Kardar was fully qualified to guide the squad of Pakistan, having attained the official Test status.

He had already led Pakistan to victory over an MCC outfit a year earlier.

Pakistan could only assemble a young combination with the captain just 28 years old and Hanif Mohammad, the babe of the side, not yet 18. Only Amir Elahi, a double international having played for India also, was over 44.

India were better equipped to take on the challenge of Pakistan with experienced campaigners. They had just returned from an official trip to England and had faced England on the home soil as well. Some of the veteran stalwarts like Lala Amaranth, Vijay Hazare, Polly Umrigar, Hemu Adhikari, Vinoo Mankad, Kishenchand, Shinde and Mantri were in the fulness of form and fitness. On their own venues and before their supporters they were supposed to deal with their rivals quite confidently and well.

However, the Pakistani visitors showed pugnacity and courage from the very first match against North Zone at Amritsar. Hanif opened the tour with the unique feat of a century in each innings. In an easeful way he faced the North Zone bowling, every stroke technically sound according to the purists of the game. It is a misconception to say that Hanif was short of strokes; he dove far and wide and with assurance.

The next match, the first Test, played at Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla ground, gave a shock to the tourists as it went in favour of India. In cold, yet pleasant weather Hazare and Adhikari helped India knock up what later turned out to be a winning score of 372. The strokes of the two short men of Indian cricket, enchanting late cuts and hooks, were fully admired by the spectators. The last-wicket score of 109 between Adhikari and Ghulam Ahmad made in October 1952, still stays as the highest for the 10th wicket partnership for India against Pakistan and against any country.

A topless strip was made to suit the Indian spinners, Vinoo Mankad and Ghulam Ahmed. The former, with curving flight and vicious turn of the ball, bowled magnificently to send Pakistan packing for 150, a total low enough to save the follow-on. Only Hanif had the disciplined bat to make 51 in the first innings. In the second knock Imtiaz (41) and Kardar (43) tried to save the situation but skipper Amaranth's ploy of using a double spin attack of Mankad and Ghulam Ahmed, a high-class off-breaker, proved too much for the Pakistan side, who lost the inaugural official Test by an innings and 70 runs with a day still remaining in the schedule.

On to Lucknow at the university ground where the second Test was played in the last week of October, 1952, on a jute matting. Pakistan turned the tables on India with a resounding victory by an innings and 43 runs. Fazal Mahmud, a bowler of the Alec Bedser and Bill Johnston class, crashed through the Indian innings with his leg cutters. With a rhythmical action and great swing of the body his medium-pacers became almost unplayable for the Indians. Whatever may have been their batting strength, the team fell like ninepins in both the knocks. India's 106 in the first innings is still the lowest total for the country against their arch-rivals.

Pakistan hit up 331. Nazar Mohammad, a solid opener, scored the first century for his country and carried his bat through a completed innings, a distinction attained by a limited band of cricketers. He also became the fist player in Test history to be on the field for the whole duration of the match. Fazal's tally of 12 wickets for 94 is todate the best against India by any bowler of Pakistan.

Fate was apparently set for a rapid and decisive revenge against India after the Delhi defeat, even through Lala Amaranth grimly fought in the second knock with forceful strokeplay for an unbeaten 61.

Pakistan's triumph at Lucknow cannot be belittled due to the absence of three senior players viz. Hazare, Mankad and Adhikari. Pakistan too was without Khan Mohammad, who had broken down on the second day of the Delhi Test and could not take any further part in any match on the tour. Though both Imtiaz and Hanif had recorded double hundreds against Central Zone and the Bombay Cricket Association, Pakistan were in trouble with the return of Mankad to the squad, assisted by another crafty spinner, Subash Gupte, in the third Test played at the famed Braboune Stadium. Hazare and Adhikari had also beefed up the batting line. Skipper Amaranth was in full form, displaying control over line and length with his mediumpacers.The Lala picked up four wickets in Pakistan's first knock, which folded up for 186. The share of Mankad and Gupte was three and two wickets. Thanks to centuries by Hazare and Umrigar before an understanding Bombay crowd India ran up a big score of 387. Pakistan could only have saved the match. Try hard as Hanif did with patient and devoted batting in the second innings and Waqar (65) with quick footwork and a style of his own their efforts went in vain. India cruised to victory by 10 wickets. Hanif missed three figures by four runs and Waqar was deceived by a well-flighted Mankad delivery. In fact Waqar, just out of the university, played graceful cricket despite the tight spot in which Pakistan was and had impressed the connoisseurs with 81 in the first knock as well.

Both Mankad and Gupte had the trickery of spin and turn to give win to India by 10 wickets. They had hauls of five and three wickets in Pakistan's second innings.

The fourth Test, played at the Chepauk ground of Madras, was interrupted by rain and had to be abandoned as a draw. In fact for the last two days no play was possible when Pakistan held an advantage of 169 runs with India having lost six batsmen for 175 against Pakistan's score of 344. Pakistan was thus deprived of a chance to level the series. The match, however, was notable for a last-wicket stand between Zulfiqar Ahmad and Amir Elahi, who defied the Indian bowling with delightful tempo, the technical rules of batting were apparently flung to the winds, though at times both were seen to be orthodox and watchful. All manners of bowling were faced by them with calmness. At last it was Amir Elahi who was beaten by his old cricket-mate, Lala Amaranth. The 104 by Zulfiquar and Amir Elahi is still the highest against India and remained as such against any cricket-playing nation for 22 years till it was exceeded by Wasim Raja and Wasim Bari in Karachi against the West Indies.

Calcutta's Eden Gardens, where the fifth Test was staged, saw some exciting cricket by Nazar, Hanif, Imtiaz and latterly in the second knock by Waqar Hasan, who missed the coveted century by just three runs to his disappointment and the great regret of the multitude present at the venue.

The match, much according to expectations, turned out to be a draw but for India Deepak Shodhan, a left-hander, became the second player, after Lala Amaranth (1933-34), to hit a hundred on Test debut.

The series went in favour of India by 2-1, three other Tests resulted in stalemate and seven side matches were drawn. Nevertheless, the duels on the Indian tour and the performances put up by the batsmen and bowlers earned the country the needed respect and reputation by the international media.

The next test and trial for Pakistan was the full four-month tour of England in 1954. It goes without saying that it was a strenuous exposure for a side, which was literally reckoned as "the babes of international cricket." The English cricketers had more experience of their turning wickets and had better resources to deal with a side that was making a second foreign trip.

However, luck and bad weather did not favour the visitors. As their initial showing was not upto the mark some inimical critics tried to write them off.

The first Test at Lord's was a harrowing experience for the tourists. Heavy rains limited the game to a little over eight hours on the last two days. There was no play for the first three days. The game ended in a draw but Pakistan's batting was miserable against the varied England attack, in which Statham and Wardle troubled the batsmen. Pakistan's 87 in the first innings was the lowest Test total for the team till the Australians overwhelmed the country at Perth in 1981-82 for a paltry 62 in the first innings.

With the return of Alec Bedser to the English squad and selection of Appleyard, a medium-pacer with considerable control over length and direction, the home side was at full strength, even though it was minus Len Hutton for the second Test at Nottingham. Bedser, Statham and Appleyard played havoc with the leather and Pakistan could only make 157 in the first innings.

England piled up a huge score of 558 with an attractive double country by Denis Compton and a hundred by Reg Simpson, both of whom had played in India during the war days. It was rather a difficult situation for Pakistan and despite efforts by Maqsood (69) and Hanif (51) the Test match was lost by an innings and 129 runs. Compton's 278 still remains the highest individual Test score at Trent Bridge. For Pakistan Khalid Hasan, at 16 years and 352 days, was the youngest (till 1954) Test debutant from any country.

The third Test at Manchester was again hit by rain as play could take place only on the first and third days. England built up a formidable total of 359. Pakistan did not fare well against Bedser and Wardle and were facing problems when rains intervened for the match to be given up as a draw. Disappointingly M.E.Z. Ghazali got a pair in the match, the first by a Pakistani batsman.

Pakistan's performance was good enough in the counties though in Tests their showing was much below expectation. There were, no doubt, voices against the team in England as in their own country.

However, as fortune favours the brave they came strongly in the last Test at The Oval. England was without Bedser but Hutton had returned to take over the captaincy and give stability to batting. In a low-coring match Fazal Mahmud, in the style and manner of some of the old masters of cutters - George Lohmann, Sydney Barnes and Maurice Tate - shook the England batsmen. Even Hutton, one of the most organised and skillful England batsmen, was at a loss to read Fazal's trajectory, the bowler galloping in beautiful action from the run-up. England capitulated to Pakistan by 24 runs and the latter evened the series to the surprise of the jeremiahs who were not prepared to take Pakistan seriously. It was sweet revenge by Pakistan. As a tribute to Fazal most of English papers banner-headlined the result, "England Fazalled."

Fazal had an outstanding bowling analysis against England-12 for 99, the second splendid effort after the Lucknow Test. The triumph at The Oval lifted the position of Pakistan in the eyes of the English critics and later their dailies showered praise on the fighting spirit and resilience of the visitors.

Taken as a whole the English tour of 1954 turned out to be a successful one and the Pakistan players, lesser experienced, stood the stress and strain of the four-month ordeal laudably. (To be continued)

Source:: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)