Australia vs Pakistan: 15 moments from a history of exhilarating highs and abysmal lows
Australia vs Pakistan: 15 moments from a history of exhilarating highs and abysmal lows
If you ignore the early days of drab cricket, contests between Pakistan and Australia have almost invariably been among the brightest in history. It might have had to do with the quality of bowlers — especially fast bowlers — that both sides have produced over years. Some of these names rank among the greatest in history. It might also have to do with the intrinsic aggression that defines the brands of cricket both countries have played over years, with bat or ball or without, resulting in controversies. And despite all that, there have been oddly boring moments, even phases or full Tests, where nothing seemed to happen, making spectators wonder whether they have turned up for the right match. You could not blame them, for drab cricket is certainly not a salient feature when the two sides clash.
It is a difficult task to select an anthology of fifteen moments of various multitudes spanning a history so eventful. There have been too many high-quality individual performances (Mark Taylor’s iconic unbeaten 334 or Ijaz Ahmed’s brutal hundreds or Ashley Mallett’s 8 for 59, for example) to pick a handful. And then, Pakistan versus Australia Tests have not been only about performances with bat and ball…
1. That man Fazal, again
It was a pity Fazal Mahmood did not make it to India’s 1947-48 tour of Australia. He had chosen to represent the newly formed country at the other side of the partition instead. He gifted Pakistan a victory in only their second Test, having India on the mats (sorry, could not help the pun) with 5 for 52 and 7 for 42 on a matting wicket at Lucknow.
Not content, he also gave Pakistan their first win over England, that too at their den, when he routed them at The Oval with 6 for 53 and 6 for 46. It was only fair that he would be Pakistan’s man against Australia, too.
Make no mistake: Ian Johnson’s men were a strong side. In Neil Harvey, Keith Miller, Ray Lindwall, and Johnson himself they had four survivors of Bradman’s Invincibles. Youngsters like Richie Benaud, Alan Davidson, Ron Archer, and Colin McDonald had already arrived on the scenario. Shortly after the Pakistan tour, Australia would rout India 2-0 at their den.
True, the Australians were unaccustomed to play on matting wickets. True, no bowler has perhaps done better on mat than Fazal. But that certainly does not justify Australia getting bowled out for 80 on Day One. Fazal bowled unchanged, as did Khan Mohammad. Fazal was almost unplayable, pitching almost everything on a perfect length, swinging the new ball, and making the ball jag off the mat in either direction. He took 6 for 34 (the first 6 wickets) while Khan Mohammad, bowling with relentless stamina, had 4 for 43.
He was back again in the second innings after Pakistan got a 119-run lead. This time Fazal did better, with 7 for 80, while Khan Mohammad got 3 for 69. Australia eventually got to 187 thanks to some resilience from Archer, Benaud, and Davidson, but it was never going to be enough. Pakistan yawned their way to a 9-wicket victory.
Trivia: The first day of the Test saw only 95 runs being scored (Australia 80, Pakistan 15 for 2) in five-and-a-half hours of cricket. This remains the world record for fewest runs in a single day’s cricket.
2. The infallible Hanif
Unfortunately, cricket in Pakistan dried out in the 1960s. There were numerous reasons, but this is not the platform to discuss that. To cut things short, they played only two Tests against Australia between 1958-59 and 1972-73. The two Tests came across two series in two countries in the span of two months, and produced two draws. However, the second Test at MCG was far from being a tedious one.
The days of Abdul Hafeez Kardar were over. Fazal had quit, as had Khan Mohammad. The Pakistan side featured three debutants and three others playing their second Test. Little was expected of the side full on talent but limited in experience.
However, at the helm of the side they had Hanif Mohammad. He had relinquished the opening spot by then. Saeed Ahmed and Javed Burki stabilised things before falling in quick succession. Hanif, of course, was unperturbed. He got 104 in 195 balls (impossibly quick by his standards), keeping Graham McKenzie and Neil Hawke at bay; from 127 for 4 Pakistan had recovered to 287.
Australia batted at 3.63 an over, securing a lead of 161. Pakistan were reduced to 46 for 3 on the penultimate evening when Hanif walked out. Then came an amazing innings, the kind he was always capable of but rarely pulled off. Hanif looked for fours, hit 12 of them, and by the time he was out for 93 on the last morning (out of 152 Pakistan scored during his stay) Pakistan had almost saved the Test.
3. The spell that turned Pakistan cricket around
Would Pakistan cricket have followed the same course, had Kardar not been their first captain? Would they have matched West Indies series-by-series if Imran Khan and Javed Miandad had not arrived? Would Pakistan cricket have embarked upon their golden decade of the 1980s, had Imran not ripped through Australia in 1976-77?
At his peak Imran was probably the greatest fast bowler in the modern era. Indeed, Imran would later reach 922 in ICC’s retrospective Test rankings, a figure not equalled by anyone since World War I.
Imran had made his Test debut over five years back, but was yet to take a single five-wicket haul before the series. There had been an indication in the second Test at Melbourne, where he had taken 5 for 122 in the second innings.
Here, at Sydney, with Pakistan 0-1 down, Imran ripped the heart out of the Australian line-up after Greg Chappell surprised Mushtaq Mohammad by batting first. While Sarfraz Nawaz — this was before the day when the pair was not as loggerheads — kept a steady line and length, Imran’s 6 for 102 (including Nos. 3 to 7) dismantled Australia for 211.
Asif Iqbal’s hundred then gave Pakistan a 149-run lead, and Imran ran in again, this time bowling almost unchanged for 19.7 eight-ball overs. This time he had 6 for 63. Australia were reduced to 115 for 8 in no time, and it was only a dogged 62-run ninth-wicket stand between Rod Marsh and Dennis Lillee that saved Australia from an innings defeat.
King Khan had arrived.
4. 33 balls, 1 run, 7 wickets
Pakistan got 196. Australia responded with 168. Then Majid Khan conjured a dazzling hundred, and Australia were set 382. It looked difficult, but Australia finished the day on 117 for 2 at stumps on the penultimate day. Graham Yallop was run out early on Day Five, but Allan Border and Kim Hughes carried on serenely, and Australia reached the safety of 305 for 3.
The match was over in another hour, for Sarfraz ran through Australia, demolishing them the way no one had done before.
It started with Border. The ball jagged back into him, took the inside edge, rapped on to the pads, and hit the timber.
Graeme Wood, batting down the order due to an injury, edged the first ball; there was no way Wasim Bari was going to drop it. Peter Sleep prevented Sarfraz from getting a hat-trick, but could not keep the toe-crusher that soon followed.
With Imran giving nothing away at the other end, Hughes tried to break the shackles. All he could manage was to hole out to mid-off. Wayne Clarke went next ball, trying to play back to one he should not have.
This time Rodney Hogg stopped the hat-trick, but he could not survive Sarfraz till the end. He was trapped leg-before; two balls later, Alan Hurst was gobbled up by Bari.
Sarfraz finished with 9 for 86. That single spell was worth 7 for 1. From 305 for 3 Australia crashed to 310.
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5. A tale of two dismissals
Hurst had started it. Australia had been on top after securing a 50-run lead. Pakistan fought back from 86 for 4, Asif adding 66 with Haroon Rasheed and 92 with Imran. Pakistan lost their ninth wicket on 263, but Asif batted along with Sikander Bakht for company.
Sikander did not score a run, but hung around for 37 minutes, which allowed Asif to add 22 valuable runs. Asif kept strike, running furiously the way he could, exposing the tail-ender for a sum of 3 balls.
Hurst came to bowl the last ball of the 86th over. Asif was ready to tap and run. Sikander was ready to set off the block. Unfortunately, he started too soon. Hurst whipped the bail off, appealed, and Sikander was Mankaded.
The Pakistanis were left fuming, more so because Rick Darling and Andrew Hilditch set off in pursuit of 236 without much fuss. They added a comfortable 87 before Darling drove Sarfraz to cover. Sikander fielded and threw the ball casually at the non-striker’s end. Hilditch picked it up and threw it to Sarfraz. All was well.
But Sarfraz saw his opportunity. He appealed, and Tony Crafter had no choice but to rule Hilditch out, obstructing the field. The acrimonious incidents left a bitter taste on the series that otherwise showcased cricket of the highest quality.
6. New Borders crossed
The Lahore Test of 1979-80 was otherwise a drab affair. Border’s first-innings 150 was well-paced, scored mostly in pursuit of quick runs as Chappell indicated a declaration. The innings took him 281 balls. Chappell declared on 407 for 7. Lillee bowled his heart out, but Pakistan fought back from 177 for 5. Majid got a hundred, adding 93 with Wasim Raja and 111 with Imran. Pakistan secured a 13-run lead.
Imran gave Pakistan some hope, taking a wicket in each of his first two overs. However, Border came to the rescue again after Bruce Laird and Chappell added 108. He launched an uncharacteristically savage onslaught, smashing 153 in 184 balls, an astonishing 126 of which came in boundaries.
It remains the only time a batsman had scored two 150s in the same Test.
7. Lillee kicks, Miandad brandishes bat
If twin dismissals of Sikander and Hilditch had left a bitter taste in the mouth, it was nothing compared to the duel between Lillee and Miandad.
Had the incident not taken place, the Test would still have been a memorable one due to the heroic show from Lillee and Terry Alderman in Pakistan’s first innings. Alderman bowled unchanged for his 4 for 36, Lillee got 5 for 18, while Thomson chipped in with a solitary wicket. Pakistan were skittled out for 62 in 21.2 overs.
The incident took place in the second innings. It made little sense, for there could have been only one outcome after Pakistan, chasing 543, were reduced to 27 for 2. Miandad started building a partnership with Mansoor Akhtar.
Miandad turned one past wide mid-wicket and strolled for a single. Lillee intercepted his path, blocking his return to the crease. When Miandad shoved him away to find a way back, Lillee actually kicked him. The cameras then caught Miandad brandishing his bat furiously at Lillee, umpire Crafter trying to separate them as a fuming Chappell tore Lillee away…
8. Heist in Karachi
It was never supposed to be a Pakistan win, certainly not after Australia, leading by 71, had put up 171 for 2 in the second innings despite Taylor scoring a pair on captaincy debut. But then, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis did not wait for triggers: they pulled them. The last 8 wickets fell for 61. The last 5, for 19, in 56 balls. Wasim finished with 5 for 63 and Waqar with 4 for 69. Between them they shared 15 wickets in the Test.
The bowlers had done their job, but 314 seemed too steep. Saeed Anwar got his second fifty of the Test, but the middle-order caved in, and with Shane Warne taking out the batsmen one by one, Pakistan reached 184 for 7 on the fifth morning despite Glenn McGrath not bowling due to a hamstring injury.
Before that, the evening before, Warne and Mark Waugh had been offered money by Saleem Malik, who asked them to concede the Test. But that is another story.
Rashid Latif kept Inzamam-ul-Haq company, helping him put on 52. Waqar contributed to another partnership, this time worth 22. But they still needed 56 when Mushtaq Ahmed walked out…
Mushtaq refused to budge. He helped Inzamam by getting runs himself, while the big man played Warne like a master at the other end.
However hard Taylor tried, he could not contain Inzamam. Then, with 3 to go, Taylor took the mid-wicket away, inviting Inzamam to go for the big shot against turn. It was a dream delivery, sucking Inzamam into exactly what they had set him up for; Inzamam missed the shot completely — but so did Ian Healy, and the ball sped to the fence.
The last wicket had pulled off daylight robbery.
9. A star is born
On paper it was perhaps the strongest Pakistan side to tour Australia. When they lost by 10 wickets at Brisbane, thus, everyone knew there would be a way back. They were on the right track, too, at Hobart, even after conceding a 24-run lead. Ijaz Ahmed, the man who scored 6 of his 12 Test hundreds against Australia, added a potentially game-changing 136 with Inzamam. Australia were eventually set 369.
Greg Blewett and Michael Slater could not make their starts count. Mark Waugh went off the first ball. Steve Waugh did not last either, while Ricky Ponting got his third duck in as many innings. Surely, there was no way back from 126 for 5.
Wasim Akram. Waqar Younis. Shoaib Akhtar. Saqlain Mushtaq. What could possibly go wrong? One of the two men at the crease was a wicketkeeper playing his second Test, after all…
Australia added another 62 before stumps. Pakistan might have sensed something when that wicketkeeper got 45 of them.
It took barely three hours for Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist to see Australia home. They added 238, more than 4 an over. While Langer was named Man of the Match (his 127 was merely a follow-up to his first-innings 59), the Gilchrist onslaught (149* in 163 balls) redefined the role of wicketkeepers. He would set newer, tougher, hitherto unknown benchmarks for them for the rest of his career. Never again could glovemen afford to be content with their role behind stumps.
10. Shoaib’s spell from hell
Beyond those 160 kph thunderbolts, behind that oft-misunderstood aggressive exterior, amidst all the rawness there was a Shoaib Akhtar the world seldom acknowledged. Shoaib was fast, but more importantly, he got wickets, and when he got wickets, he could run through sides, and perhaps never better than he did that day at the P Sara Stadium.
Political disturbances resulted in Australia’s 2002-03 Tests in Pakistan to be rescheduled to neutral venues. While Colombo hosted the first Test, the other two were played at Sharjah. We will come to that.
Ponting, by now peaking towards greatness achieved by few, smashed 141 to take Australia to 467. Then Warne came to the party, taking 7 for 94 as Pakistan were bowled out for 279. Langer fell on 61, but Matthew Hayden and Ponting seemed to be in complete control at 74 for 1. The lead had stretched to 262.
There was nothing much about the Ponting wicket. The ball was outside off, and Ponting chopped it on to the stumps. There was not much in it, but it somehow pumped up Shoaib, who was already bowling with the wind behind him.
The next ball was a sharp in-swinger. It was not a yorker. It pitched before it hit Mark Waugh on the pad, but the ball was so straight and fast that Waugh could barely react. The ball hit timber.
Shoaib had taken 3 for 51 in the first innings. He was on a hat-trick there as well, having dismissed Jason Gillespie and Brett Lee off consecutive deliveries, but Glenn McGrath had kept him out.
Steve Waugh survived the hat-trick too. The attempted yorker took his inside edge and passed alarmingly close to the off-stump.
He shuffled across to the next ball. Shoaib bowled straight and fast, and Steve Bucknor’s finger went up. It had taken Shoaib 4 balls to wreck the Australian top-order.
And off the first ball of the next over, Saqlain had an unhappy-looking Hayden caught at silly-point.
Gilchrist joined Damien Martyn. They ran a few singles. A screamer from Shoaib hit Gilchrist on the pad. Gilchrist survived. The next ball, probably the fastest and most lethal of them all, hit the base of the leg-stump before he could bring his bat down. So precise and fierce was the impact that only the bails were dislodged, keeping the stumps intact.
Shoaib took 5 for 21. Australia were bowled out for 127. However, the first-innings lead proved enough for a 42-run win.
11. Hayden outscores Pakistan
Abdul Razzaq saved Pakistan’s face in the first innings with his 21. In the second innings Imran Nazir got 16 and Misbah-ul-Haq 12. Had they not got those runs, Pakistan would have done worse, much worse than 59 and 53. They had no clue against Warne, who ended with match figures of 17.5-6-24-8. Pakistan lost on the second day.
It was not that Pakistan bowled poorly. Their batsmen deserted their bowlers. Only one Australian managed to go past the fifty-run mark in the Test in the sweltering October heat of Sharjah, where the temperature soared to the 40s. Unfortunately for Pakistan, that one man scored 119.
Hayden’s 119 lasted over seven hours. He was dehydrated and rehydrated on multiple occasions. He sat down on the ground to rest. He broke for drinks. But he hung around, eventually being ninth out, batting with uncharacteristic caution as the other piled up the runs. He ensured Australia reached 310.
Despite Warne’s ridiculous figures, there was no doubt regarding the Man of the Match. It is not every day that you bat once, yet score more than what the entire opposition has scored across both innings.
12. Langer outscores Pakistan
Once again there was an outrageous spell. This time McGrath bowled unchanged through Pakistan’s second innings, taking 8 for 24. Pakistan were bowled out for 72 (despite Younis Khan scoring 17 and Yousuf Youhana 27), losing by 491 runs. And yet, once again, there was another Man of the Match. If Hayden had outscored Pakistan to ruin Warne’s party, it was only fitting that Langer would do the same to McGrath.
Inzamam rightly opted to bowl on a bouncy Perth track and unleashed Shoaib and Mohammad Sami. The two men took 8 wickets between them, but were defied by Langer for almost seven hours. Langer was last out for 191 in a team score of 381. Pakistan scored less than that; they were bowled out for 179.
Langer had missed out on a double-hundred in the first innings. This time he missed the hundred, falling 3 short. This time Pakistan scored 72. Langer alone scored 37 more than them, though he batted once more than Hayden.
13. Pakistan implode against Hauritz
By 2009-10 Shoaib was a spent force, but Mohammad Asif had already arrived on the scenario. He gave a taste of his talent at Sydney after Sami reduced Australia to 10 for 3. Asif took the next 4 wickets to leave them reeling at 62 for 7. There was some resistance from Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Hauritz before Asif got them both.
Australia were shot out for 127. Asif finished with 6 for 41. And four Pakistan batsmen crossed 40, stretching the lead to 206. Michael Hussey scored a defiant unbeaten 134 in the second innings, but Danish Kaneria took a five-fir, and Pakistan were left to chase 176 on a pitch that was still good for batting. Pakistan looked set for a cruise when Imran Farhat and Salman Butt added 34.
Farhat went first, followed by Faisal Iqbal and then Butt, but Mohammad Yousuf (having changed his name by now) and Umar Akmal took charge. At 77 for 3 things looked under control again.
Then Yousuf hit one with everything he had. Nathan Hauritz barely had time to react off his own bowling. The momentum of the ball flung him back on the ground, but he still held on to the ball. Misbah cut the next ball to point.
But Umar Akmal continued, this time with big brother Kamran, who, in the opinion of some, is a better batsman than wicketkeeper. They added another 26 before Kamran edged Johnson to Brad Haddin. And Hauritz struck again, this time Sami getting an edge.
Pakistan continued to commit hara-kiri. Umar Akmal, having batted beautifully for his 49, tried to clear extra-cover off Doug Bollinger but failed. Kaneria hit one straight to deep mid-wicket. And Umar Gul gave Hauritz his fifth wicket, attempting a blind hoick and mistiming it completely.
Pakistan were bowled out for 139. Worse, they had lasted a mere 38 overs. Even worse, almost every single batsman got out to irresponsible strokeplay.
14. New-ball magic at Headingley
Everybody remembers what Asif and Mohammed Aamer did at Lord’s against England in the summer of 2010. Few remember their Headingley show earlier that summer, against Australia.
Ponting had opted to bat. He must have thought it would be easy to bat on the surface despite Asif’s success at Sydney the winter before. And, of course, he had no clue about the teenage Aamer. They would be backed up by Gul, and unlike in Australia or Pakistan, the Pakistani new-ball bowlers might run riot in England.
Soon afterwards, Simon Katich became Aamer’s first Test wicket. Ponting survived an LBW shout the next ball, but Asif struck at the other end; Shane Watson went for a drive, missed it, and was given out lbw.
Almost immediately Michael Clarke survived another shout off Aamer. The replays showed Rudi Kortzen had erred. Clarke, clearly shaken up, attempted two wild drives off consecutive deliveries from Gul and missed both. He tried a third; this time it was straight, and Clarke was bowled.
Ponting huffed and puffed, missed a couple, was beaten comprehensively by one that formed an outrageous curve as it moved away; three balls later Asif brought one in, and Ponting was gone. It was so plumb that Ponting walked for an LBW. Gul got Hussey leg-before the next over. And Umar Amin, bowling gentle medium-pace, got Marcus North to poke at one outside off.
At lunch the score read 73 for 6. Two balls after the break — both unplayable balls — Australia were 73 for 8: the first swung back sharply to bowl Steven Smith through the gate; the second swung sharply as well, across the left-handed Johnson to hit off with metronomic precision. Seldom since Wasim in the 1992 World Cup final has the world seen swing bowling of such high pedigree.
Ben Hilfenhaus was run out, and poor Tim Paine, trying to make room and slog, edged one to Kamran. In 33.1 overs, in less than three hours, Australia had been bowled out for 88. Aamer took 4 for 86 in the second innings to go with his first-innings 3 for 20.
Set 180, Pakistan reached 137 for 1 before almost throwing it away again. They eventually won by 3 wickets.
15. Vengeance of the tuk-tuk
Tuk-tuk, they called him, they still call him, for the pace at which he scores. They seldom remember that he had twice taken Pakistan on the brink of victory in the 2007 World T20 against India. However, he had shed that avatar and adopted a new approach, for captaincy comes with responsibilities, especially if you belong to an inconsistent middle-order.
They forgot it was not a matter of ability. It was about discipline. It was not that he could not. It was because he would not.
Misbah had got 101 in the first innings. It was the third-highest score of the innings, after Younis’s 213 and Azhar Ali’s 109. Misbah had declared at 570 for 7, and had decided to bat again despite a 309-run lead. Pakistan became 21 for 2 in the second innings before Azhar and Younis settled down; then they began to accelerate.
Eyebrows were raised when Misbah showed up at No. 5, ahead of the belligerent Sarfraz Ahmed. Quick runs, after all, were the need of the hour.
Misbah showed his intent with the first ball, lofting Smith (yes, Steven Smith, who had dismissed Younis) over his head for four. He was dropped at cover the next ball.
Perhaps encouraged by this, Clarke gave Smith another over. Misbah took 23 off it. Two boundaries came off the next over, from Mitchell Marsh. Misbah hit another six off Smith, and a three off Mitchell Starc got him to the fastest fifty in Test history — off 18 balls.
However, there was more to come. He smashed Starc for two fours in an over, and did the same off Peter Siddle. A yorker from Siddle disappeared over long-on. The hundred came off the 56th ball he faced. He had equalled Viv Richards’s world record for the fastest Test hundred.
Trivia: Misbah declared immediately, thus scoring 101 and 101* in the Test. He became the second cricketer to score identical hundreds in a Test, after Duleep Mendis (105 and 105).
Australia, thoroughly demoralised, lost by 356 runs against the spin of Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah.
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Bonus: A President arrives
Years before Nilesh Kulkarni, Intikhab Alam had taken a wicket with his first ball in Test cricket, at Karachi in 1959-60. Just like Kulkarni’s, Intikhab’s feat was overshadowed by an event that became a quizmaster’s favourite.
It was a significant year for USA President Dwight Eisenhower. Alaska and Hawaii had been added as the last two states to take the count to a round fifty. This time, on a tour of Pakistan, he showed up on the fourth day of the Karachi Test.
The appearance did nothing to boost the cricketers. Pakistan had scored 287 and Australia had responded with 257, but all that had taken up three days. Pakistan soon became 25 for 3 in the second innings, and Hanif got into an impregnable shell. In other words, he did a Hanif.
Pakistan batted through the day to finish on 104 for 5. Hanif had lost Duncan Sharpe and Shujauddin Butt, but he managed to survive till stumps, unbeaten on 40. Fazal declared the innings next day on 194 for 8 from 109.4 overs. Hanif remained unbeaten on 101. Australia never bothered about the target of 225 in two hours.
Eisenhower remains the only American President to have been present at a cricket ground during a Test. It is perhaps not a coincidence that the Americans are yet to take to cricket.
(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor at CricketCountry. He blogs at ovshake.blogspot.com and can be followed on Twitter @ovshake42.)