Pakistani cricket team

The Pakistani cricket team is a national cricket team representing Pakistan. It is administrated by the Pakistan Cricket Board. Pakistan is a full member of the International Cricket Council with Test and one-day international status. As of 12 July 2006, Pakistan is ranked second in the ICC Test Championship and third in the ICC ODI Championship

History

Following the Partition of India in 1947, and the establishment of the separate nation state of Pakistan, cricket in the country developed steadily and Pakistan was given Test Match status at a meeting of the Imperial Cricket Conference at Lord's Cricket Ground on 28th July 1952. Pakistan’s first Test match was played in Delhi in October 1952 as part of a five Test series which India won 2-1. Pakistan made their first tour of England in 1954 and drew the series 1-1 after a memorable victory at The Oval in which fast bowler Fazal Mahmood took 12 wickets. Pakistan’s first home Test match was in Dacca in East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) in January 1955 against India and four more Test matches were to follow in Bahawalpur, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi (all five matches in that series were drawn).

The team has an excellent record and is considered one of the best teams in international cricket with top rankings in both Test cricket and ODI.

Legends of Pakistan Cricket

Tournament history

World Cup

1975: First round
1979: Semi Finals
1983: Semi Finals
1987: Semi Finals
1992: Champions
1996: Quarter Finals
1999: Runners up
2003: First round

ICC Champions Trophy

2002: First round
2004: Semi Finals

ICC Knockout

1998: Quarter Finals
2000: Semi Finals

Sharjah Cup

1987: Finals, Runner up
1989: Won
1990: Won
1992: Won
1997: Runner up
1999: Won
2002: Won
2003: Won

Commonwealth Games

1998: First round

Asian Test Championship

1999: Won
2001/02: Runners up

Asia Cup

1984: 3rd place
1986: Runners up
1988: 3rd place
1990/91: Did not participate
1995: 3rd place
1997: 3rd place
2000: Won
2004: 3rd place

Austral-Asia Cup

1986: Won
1990: Won
1994: Won

Records

Pakistan has produced many excellent bowlers such as Fazal Mahmood, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and Shoaib Akhtar. Pakistan's bowlers are known for developing and perfecting the art of reverse swing bowling, said to be invented by Sarfaraz Nawaz, to a high degree of proficiency.

Pakistan rose to prominence and began to be considered very seriously under the captaincy of Imran Khan who led the 1992 World Cup winning team.

Some of Pakistan's most memorable matches have been the One Day Internationals (ODI) and test matches, it has played against the neighboring nation of India. Although it has been very difficult to predict whether Pakistan would win a match against India on a given day, it has won 64 of the 108 ODIs it has played against India. However it has been unable to break the jinx of losing to India in the crucial World cup matches, having lost to India in the 1992, 1996, 1999 and 2003 editions and being eliminated because of it in 1996 and 2003.

During the tour of India in 1997 the Pakistan team consistently outperformed the opposing side on their home turf. Batsman Saeed Anwar put on a show of brilliant batting performance scoring a world record 194 in a single ODI against their arch-rival Indian cricket team.

Renowned Pakistani cricketers include Hafeez Kardar, Hanif Mohammad, Mushtaq Mohammad, Sadiq Mohammad, Asif Iqbal, Mohsin Khan, Mudassar Nazar, Wasim Bari, Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar, Aamer Sohail, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Salim Malik, Abdul Qadir and Shoaib Akhtar.

1986 Australasia Cup

Pakistan won the 1986 Australasia Cup against India in style with Javed Miandad emerging as the National Hero and a World Class Cricketer.

The Pakistanis had managed to make it to the final, and were up against India. India batted first and set a target of 245 runs, leaving the Pakistanis with a required run rate of 4.92 per over. Javed Miandad came in to bat at number 3 and managed to bat till the end. On the last ball, four runs were required and Miandad hit a six that sealed the victory for Pakistan. His famous last ball six against India in Sharjah is still considered as one of the most historic moments in one-day cricket history.---

England tour in 2005

The mighty English took on the Pakistan cricket team after beating the world champions (Australia). After the historical Ashes win, the England cricket team which was on an all time high and was looking to continue their stature as the top team on the globe by beating the Pakistani side on their home ground. The Pakistanis where also looking forword to continue their winning streak which has been going on since their last clash with the West Indies cricket team. The series began on the 12th of November with the 1st test match and continued throughout November and December with 3 test matches and 5 ODI s, the 1st one on the 10th of December and the series finishing off with the 5th ODI on the 21st of December.

The Results: First Test: Pakistan Won by 22 runs

Second Test: Match Drawn

Third Test: Pakistan Won the Match by an innings and 100 runs

Full Scorecard-ODIs First ODI: England Won by 42 runs

Second ODI: Pakistan Won by 7 wickets

Third ODI: Pakistan Won by 165 runs

Fourth ODI: Pakistan Won by 13 runs

Fifth ODI: England Won by 6 runs

This win marked a period of jubilant celebrations around the Country, which was covered by the Pakistani media. Shoaib Akhtar was praised for his comeback and performance against the English in which he took 5 wickets on the second ODI in which Pakistan won by 7 wickets. His tight bowling and variety in pace took out the top lined batsman of England.

Cricket Grounds

Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot
Zafar Ali Stadium, Sahiwal
Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
Ayub National Stadium, Quetta
National Stadium, Karachi
Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad, Sind
Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala
Ibn-e-Qasim Bagh Stadium, Multan
Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar
Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad
Pindi Club Ground, Rawalpindi
Sargodha Stadium
Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium
Bugti Stadium, Quetta
Sheikhupura Stadium
Multan Cricket Stadium

Notable Pakistan cricketers

Captains

Kardar led the first Pakistani team to victory over all the Test playing nations of the 1950s, including historic victories over England in England in 1954, and against Australia in Karachi in 1956. Imran Khan led Pakistan to a World Cup victory in 1992 in Australia.

Fast bowlers

Wasim Akram has taken 502 ODI wickets, the highest by any bowler in ODI cricket.

Reverse Swing

Reverse swing happens when the ball is about 40 overs old (although some bowlers have got the bowl to reverse swing after 15 overs) and has one side roughed up and the other side shiny. The grip and the release for reverse swing is similar to that of conventional swing. When the ball conventionally swings, the batsman expects the ball to swing towards the rough side. But when the ball reverse swings, it actually swings towards side where the shiny side is held, which can leave a batsman devastated.

The art of reverse swing was first discovered by Sarfraz Nawaz in the 1970s. He mastered this art and then passed it on to another Pakistani bowler, Imran Khan. Imran Khan mastered reverse swing and the evidence of reverse swing by Imran Khan was seen in 1983 in a test match against India at Karachi where he took 5 wickets in 25 balls. Imran Khan then passed this skill on to Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram who made the most use of it. In 1992, when Pakistan toured England, it left England’s batsmen devastated as they had no answer to the reverse swing and they hadn’t heard about it before. Pakistan ended up winning the series 2-1.

The series was a controversial one as the Pakistani team got accused of ball tampering, particularly by the English media. They couldn’t understand how a ball that old could swing that much. But the English media got their answer as this art expanded around the cricket world and more and more bowlers started to master reverse swing. English bowlers themselves used this as one of the weapons to win The Ashes series 2-1 against Australia in 2005.

Batsmen

Hanif Mohammad scored 337 against the West Indies in 1958, the first triple hundred by an Asian cricketer. This is also the longest innings by any batsman in terms of time spent at the wicket. Saeed Anwar holds the record for scoring 194, the highest ODI innings, scored against the Indian cricket team in Chennai in 1997. Shahid Afridi holds the record for the fastest ODI century reaching the milestone off just 37 balls and also equalled the second fastest hundred by scoring a century off 45 balls.

Spin bowlers

Abdul Qadir is considered the reviver of the art of leg-spin bowling, and Saqlain Mushtaq is regarded as one of the best off-spin bowlers in cricket history and also created the mystery ball, now known as the 'Doosra'.

All rounders

Current Team

The current Pakistani Team players are Inzamam-ul-Haq(Captain), Younis Khan(Vice Captain), Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal(wicketkeeper), Imran Farhat, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Faisal Iqbal, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Arshad Khan, Mohammad Asif, Asim Kamal, Mohammad Sami, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Shoaib Akhtar, Danish Kaneria, Umer Gul

Trivia

Abdul Jalil aka Chacha cricket (photo) has been following the team since 1969. The PCB pays him 10,000 Pakistani rupees per month to follow the team, and he himself has a number of his own followers.

References

External links

pcboard.com.pk - Pakistan Cricket Board
^* - World Wide Supporters of Pakistan Cricket Forum

National cricket teams | Cricket in Pakistan

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