Milestones in Pakistani cricket history

Cricket came to Pakistan in 1952 and has grown up to become the favorite sport of the whole nation. Today the Pakistani cricket team is one of the successful teams from around the world. The team had reached important landmarks like reaching the 1983 World Cup semi-finals and of the 1987 World Cup semi finals, and has also gone ahead to winning the ICC Cricket World Cup in 1992.

Pakistan cricket team was granted a Test Match status in 1952 in a meeting at the Lord’s Cricket Ground in an Imperial Cricket Conference following recommendations from India. Pakistan played its first test match in the same year in capital city Delhi, India. In the 5-match series, India won by 2 matches to 1. In 1954, while touring England, Fazal Mahmood dismissed 12 batsmen and Pakistan had its first victory and ended up with a draw series. They hosted a series for the first time in 1955 in Decca against arch cricket rivals India. The test was a part of a 5-match series and for the first time in cricket history, all the matches of the series were drawn.

In 1986, Pakistan took part in the Australasia Cup at Sharjah. The tournament is best remembered for a match between Pakistan and India where Pakistan scored a last-ball victory with the help of Javed Miandad. The Pakistani fans crowned Miandad as a national hero. India went to bat first and scored 245 runs after which the rivals were left to deal with scoring 4.92 runs per over. Pakistan lost wickets at regular intervals, but Miandad who came to pitch at number 3 survived to struggle. As far as India vs. Pakistan matches are concerned, the major blow to the losing team is the loss of dignity. The match was going towards a nail-biting finish with Pakistan needing 4 runs off the last delivery. Miandad send the full toss delivery towards midwicket for the boundary and emerged a life-saver for Pakistan.

1992 marked the come-back of Pakistan after a long staying dormant period. Pakistan entered the 1992 Cricket Cup having lost Saeed Anwar and Waqar Younis and the captain, Imran Khan, was leading the team despite being injured. Pakistan had nearly survived being knocked out of the first round losing 4 of the 5 matches. They managed to survive a 74-all out match against England due to rain and the match being declared as “no-result”. Pakistan secured 5 consecutive wins after that and fought like “cornered tigers”. The team clashed with the hosts New Zealand in the semis and with England at the finals and won on each occasion to secure the victory and the Cup.

The most shocking ever defeat came to Pakistan against Ireland in 2007 when their contenders were playing their first ever competition. At the 2007 World Cup, Pakistan faced Ireland after having lost to West Indies in their first match of the tournament. They needed a win to advance to the next stage and a match against first-timers Ireland seemed to easy to work hard for. After losing the toss, they were sent to bat first. The Irish bowlers were able to restrict them at 132 with only 4 players reaching to double scores. Niall O’Brian from Ireland scored a marvelous 72 and helped secure a win for his team. A World-cup winning team, Pakistan had been knocked out of the competition in the first round itself.

Also in 2007, Pakistani coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room under mysterious conditions at Kingston, Jamaica. An investigation was followed up and medical reports confirmed Woolmer died of asphyxiation, which results from manual strangulation. His death was treated by the Jamaican police as a case of murder and more controversies followed for the team. All the team players were treated as witnesses but the police could found no clear evidence against anyone. Till now, because of lack of proofs, his death is being treated as a natural death.