Published: Oct 08, 2013, 05:02 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 25, 2014, 01:36 AM (IST)
Ali Naqvi (left) and Azhar Mahmood © AFP
On October 8, 1997, debutant Azhar Mahmood scored a ton against South Africa and history was scripted. On the previous day of the Test, Ali Naqvi had scored 115. The duo thus became the only pair in the history of Test cricket to score tons on debut in the same Test. Sarang Bhalerao takes a look back at the historic Rawalpindi Test.
What happened at Rawalpindi in October 1997 had never ever happened in Test cricket since Charles Bannerman took first strike at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in 1877. Call if baptism of fire, if you may. Two debutants — Ali Naqvi and Azhar Mahmood became the fifth and the sixth Pakistan players to hit a Test ton on debut. Interestingly, two debutants scoring tons in the same Test was a cricketing first.
Pakistan batted on a relatively flat surface. Naqvi opened the innings with Saeed Anwar. The duo put on 45 for the first stand. Anwar fell to Allan Donald caught by wicketkeeper Dave Richardson for 16. Batting at No 3, debutant Mohammad Ramzan scored 29 out leg-before to Shaun Pollock. Ijaz Ahmed was bowled by Pat Symcox for 11 while Inzamam-ul-Haq (8) and Mohammad Wasim (11) failed to get their innings going.
The surface according to the Wisden Almanack mentions: “The bounce was like an old tennis ball on clay, there was no moisture to assist movement, and the clay would not even crack. The contest died, but it was still a memorable Test match, with two of Pakistan’s three newcomers taking the starring roles.”
One of the newcomers was a 20-year-old Naqvi, who looked technically good and unperturbed by the occasion. He had impressed playing a handful of First-Class games for House Building Finance Corporation. Against Donald, Brett Schultz, Pollock, Brian McMillan, Symcox and Jacques Kallis he looked completely at ease. According to Wisden he had raced away to 25 off as many balls in the morning session before dropping anchor as his partners fell one after the other. After reaching his maiden ton in Test cricket, Naqvi fell trying to slash Donald with only two overs to go for stumps. He fell for 115 and was replaced by Mahmood — one of the three debutants for Pakistan.
Pakistan finished the day at 216 for six. On the second morning, Moin Khan fell for 12 leg-before to Donald. Saqlain Mushtaq was dismissed for a blob, leaving Pakistan reeling at 231 for eight.
Mahmood played his shots and kept the South African bowling at bay. He was ably supported by Waqar Younis. Mahmood had a stout defence and he had proper cricketing shots in his repertoire. It was as if the South African bowlers were running out of ideas on how to bowl to Mahmood. Waqar, on the other hand, was playing his shots thereby keeping South Africans interested. He hooked Donald for a couple of sixes and hit five boundaries. Batting on 45, he got a virtually unplayable delivery from Pollock that swung in late and hit Waqar on his toe. The in-swinging yorker to Waqar was like a dose of his own medicine.
The last-wicket stand between Mahmood and Mushtaq Ahmed proved to be decisive. The duo added 151 for the last wicket — which equalled the then Test record for the highest last-wicket partnership set be New Zealand’s Brian Hastings and Richard Collinge against Pakistan at Auckland in 1972.
Mahmood got his maiden Test ton which was incidentally his first First-Class ton. Mushtaq notched up his highest Test score of 59. Pakistan finished at 456.
South Africa conceded a lead of 53 runs after Saqlain’s five-for was instrumental in Pakistan not allowing South Africa to post a big first innings score.
In the second innings, Naqvi fell for 19, but Mahmood remained unbeaten on 50 thus rounding off a brilliant debut. The match was drawn.
List of Pakistan batsmen who scored centuries on Test debut:
| No | Batsman | Score | Opponents | Venue | Year |
| 1 | Khalid Ibadulla | 166 | Australia | Karachi | 1964 |
| 2 | Javed Miandad | 163 | New Zealand | Lahore | 1976 |
| 3 | Saleem Malik | 100* | West Indies | Karachi | 1982 |
| 4 | Mohammad Wasim | 109* | New Zealand | Lahore | 1996 |
| 5 | Ali Naqvi | 115 | South Africa | Rawalpindi | 1997 |
| 6 | Azhar Mahmood | 128* | South Africa | Rawalpindi | 1997 |
| 7 | Younis Khan | 107 | Sri Lanka | Rawalpindi | 2000 |
| 8 | Taufeeq Umar | 104 | Bangladesh | Multan | 2001 |
| 9 | Yasir Hameed | 170 & 150 | Bangladesh | Karachi | 2003 |
| 10 | Fawad Alam | 168 | Sri Lanka | Colombo | 2009 |
| 11 | Umar Akmal | 129 | New Zealand | Dunedin | 2009 |
Brief scores:
Pakistan 456 (Ali Naqvi 115, Azhar Mahmood 128*; Allan Donald 3 for 108, Shaun Pollock 3 for 74) and 182 for 6 (Inzamam-ul-Haq 56, Azhar Mahmood 50*; Jacques Kallis 2 for 21, Pat Symcox 2 for 56) drew with South Africa 403 (Gary Kirsten 98; Saqlain Mushtaq 5 for 129).
(Sarang Bhalerao hails from a family of doctors, but did his engineering. He then dumped a career in IT with Infosys to follow his heart and passion and became a writer with CricketCountry. A voracious reader, Sarang aspires to beat Google with his knowledge of the game! You can follow him on Twitter here)
