The jinx in India-Pakistan matches (updated in June 2019)

It is often said that India dominates Pakistan in ICC tournaments. Hence the “Mauka Mauka” ads which aired at the beginning of the 2015 and 2019 World Cups.

Let us see take a closer look at the history of these encounters. First, the World Cup:

Note the two matches at Manchester separated by 20 years. In 1999 the mini-war in Kargil was in progress.

India and Pakistan never met in the World Cups of 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1987. They were somehow always drawn in different groups so they could have met only in the semi-finals or finals.

It was not until 1992 that they met in the World Cup. In that tournament (as in 2019) all teams played each other in the round-robin knockout stage.

They met in the quarter-finals in 1996, Super Six in 1999, and a pool match in 2003. India won all these matches so the feeling of a jinx over Pakistan kept growing.

In 2007, both India and Pakistan were jinxed and failed to proceed beyond the pool stage, being displaced by Bangladesh and Ireland respectively.

In 2011, India won in the semi-final, repeated this in a pool match in 2015 and again in a round-robin match in 2019.

This makes it 7 out of 7.

If you want to see the scorecards, open this link and click on the blue square on the extreme right.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=2;filter=advanced;opposition=7;orderby=start;team=6;template=results;trophy=12;type=team;view=results

Now we go to the T20 World Championship. We will come back to the Champions Trophy at the end.

The teams met twice in the inaugural championship in 2007. Though the match in the pool stage was a tie, India got the winner’s points as they won in the bowl-out which was then the method used to determine the winner of a tied match.

Then India won against Pakistan in the final. The teams did not meet in 2009 and 2010. India won the next three encounters in 2012, 2014 and 2016. All of these were in the group stages and not the semi-final or final. Thus India leads 5-0 (including the tie) in the World T20 Championship.

You can see the scorecards from this link:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=3;filter=advanced;opposition=7;orderby=start;team=6;template=results;trophy=89;type=team;view=results

For details of the bowl-out in the first match in 2007, see the commentary section rather than the scorecard.

But the story in the Champions Trophy is somewhat different:

India and Pakistan did not meet in 1998, 2000 or 2002 (when India shared the trophy with Sri Lanka). Pakistan won the first encounter in 2004 in the group stage. They did not meet in 2006. Pakistan won in 2009, also in the group stage. India finally won in 2013, in a group match on their way to the trophy.

In 2017, India won the group match but lost in the final.

So the jinx on Pakistan in ICC tournaments does not apply to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, where they lead India 3-2.

See the scorecards here:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=2;filter=advanced;opposition=7;orderby=start;team=6;template=results;trophy=44;type=team;view=results

 

 

Nawaz Sharif’s cricketing career

As this is being written, it appears likely that Imran Khan Niazi will be the next Prime Minister of Pakistan. While he may be described as one of Pakistan’s finest cricket captains, it is an open question whether he will be successful as a PM.

His adversary Nawaz Sharif was a cricketer of a sort-though he played only one first-class match in which he scored a duck and did not bowl or take a catch. The summary of his career is here:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/pakistan/content/player/42259.html

If one wants to find out details of the match he played in, it is not in Cricinfo but can be found in other sources such as www.cricketarchive.com

I am giving the link for the scorecard here, though it will probably not be visible unless you have paid the subscription for access to the site.

http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/33/33876.html

This match was between Railways (NS’s team) and PIA “B” at Karachi (Gymkhana Ground) on 10/11 Dec 1973. Unusually for a 4-day match, it was concluded in two days when Railways won by an innings and 68 runs. This was a quarter-final of the BCCP Patron’s Trophy. Railways went on to win the trophy, defeating PIA “A” in the final.

A brief summary of the match in question:

Railways 238

PIA “B”  51 and (fo) 119.

As mentioned above, Nawaz Sharif  scored a duck. He was the No 2 batsman, and did not bowl or take a catch.

His team-mates included two international players in Arif Butt and Mohammed Nazir who each played in a few Tests. The latter took 11 wickets in the match.

The PIA team did not have any international players. There was a Saeed Ahmed who batted at No 11, though he is not the one you are thinking of.

NS also appears in one “miscellaneous” one-day match which does not have List A status. This match was played between Lahore Gymkhana and England at Bagh-e-Jinnah, Lahore on 7 Oct 1987, as one of the warm-up matches for the Reliance World Cup.

This stadium was earlier known as Lawrence Gardens and had hosted a few Tests in 1955-59.

http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/201/201432.html

In this match England won by 129 runs, with NS batting at No 2 and bowled by DeFreitas for 1.

(Thanks to Pradeep Ramarathman for remembering the second match).

He also participated in non-serious matches later on, such as one in a meeting of Commonwealth leaders in the early 90s. In one of these matches he hit a few sixes.

Perhaps the high point of his cricket career occurred when he was PM, when Pakistan’s team captained by Imran Khan won the World Cup in 1992:

 

The fine art of minnow-bashing

The term “minnow-bashing” was often heard in World Cup cricket matches where the non-regular teams often came to grief against the major teams.

Now the women’s T20I teams of India and Pakistan have shown that they are better at minnow-bashing than their male counterparts. The occasions came in the course of  the ongoing Asia Cup which is a T20I tournament in Malaysia. As we will see, the Malaysian team have been very gracious hosts.

The 6 participating teams are India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand and Malaysia. As the last 2 are not regular teams, their matches are not counted in women’s T20I records.

India started the process by dismissing Malaysia for 27 and thus winning by 142 runs:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/1148042/scorecard/1148048/malaysia-women-vs-india-women-1st-match-womens-twenty20-asia-cup-2018/

Pakistan did almost as well, dismissing the hosts for 30 and winning by 147 runs.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/1148042/scorecard/1148058/malaysia-women-vs-pakistan-women-11th-match-womens-twenty20-asia-cup-2018/

Thailand has also done quite badly, without ever crossing 100. But they did beat Malaysia by 9 wickets:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/1148042/scorecard/1148055/malaysia-women-vs-thailand-women-8th-match-womens-twenty20-asia-cup-2018/

The league matches continue on June 9, which features Ind v Pak, SL v Th and BD vs Ma.

The final on June 10 will probably be between India and Pakistan.

Previous encounters between Ireland and Pakistan

As the first Test between Ireland and Pakistan gets under way, we look at how they have fared in the shorter formats.

ODIs between Ireland and Pakistan:

There have been other 50-over matches between these teams before Ireland got ODI status, but those details are not readily available. Those matches were generally part of Pakistan’s Test tours of England.

We see that 7 ODIs between these teams have been completed. Pakistan lead 5-1 with 1 tie. However it is their first encounter which is remembered, when Ireland’s “beginner’s luck” at the 2007 World Cup played a large part in Pakistan’s early departure. (Similarly Bangladesh spoiled India’s party in the same World Cup).

The scorecard of that first match: http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8039/scorecard/247465/ireland-vs-pakistan-9th-match,-group-d-world-cup-2006-07/

A few members of Ireland’s team on that occasion will be playing in the inaugural Test starting on May 11.

Only one T20I has been played between these teams, which was at the 2009 T20 World Championships. Ireland had got into the Super 8s essentially by defeating Bangladesh. Pakistan won by a large margin. Pakistan went on to win the championship, while defending champion India did not reach the semi-finals.

Again, a few members of that Irish team are playing in today’s Test.

Scorecard of that match:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/8604/scorecard/356012/ireland-vs-pakistan-21st-match,-group-f-world-t20-2009/

The importance of Sheikhupura

The city of Sheikhupura in Pakistan was in the news recently:

https://www.geo.tv/latest/192419-sikh-pilgrim-who-went-missing-in-pakistan-found-from-sheikhupura

There is a happy ending as he was promptly deported to India a few days later.

Sheikhupura is on the route from the Atari/Wagah border to Nankana Saheb, where special trains from India run occasionally for the benefit of Sikh pilgrims. The main stations on the way are Lahore and Qila Sheikhupura:

There is a video on Youtube produced by a passenger on of the pilgrim trains, showing it passing through these stations:

Nankana Saheb is not really a major railway station. Timetables of the 1930s and 1940s show it as a wayside station served by two pairs of passenger trains between Lahore and Shorkot Road (now Shorkot Cantt). In recent years an express has started running on this route which stops at Nankana Saheb and several other stations.

Those who follow cricket closely would remember that Sheikhupura had staged two Test matches and two ODIs in the 1990s. The first Test was against Zimbabwe in 1996, where Wasim Akram’s record of 12 6s in his 257 not out is still a world record for an innings. In fact, it was a match record until RG Sharma hit 13 sixes in a match in 2019.

With Saqlain Mushtaq (79) he put on 313 for the 8th wicket which was the new Test record.

This record was surpassed by Trott (184) and Broad (169)’s partnership of 332 against Pakistan at Lord’s in 2010. Given the later disclosures of various tricks being played by Salman Butt and his friends, it is quite likely that they were “allowed” to run up large scores.

In that match in 1996 Paul Strang scored a century and took a five-for. He remains the only one from Zimbabwe to achieve this in a Test.

In 1997 this venue hosted another Test against South Africa. Nothing much happened as 3 days were washed out.

While Test matches did not return here, the people of Sheikhupura were more fortunate than their neighbours in Gujranwala. The one Test there (against Sri Lanka) in 1991 saw only one day of play before the weather played spoilsport. There are several other venues in India and Pakistan which have hosted only one Test so far.

Sheikhupura also features in jokes where it is supposed to be the home of Sheikh Pir, who wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare. Tamilians disagree as they say the plays were written by their scholar Seshappa Iyer.

There is a lesser-known Sheikhpura in Bihar state in India, on the Gaya-Kiul route:

Records of Pak-WI T20I on April 1, 2018

Here are the records which were set in this match, which was one of the most one-sided T20I matches ever. First, the scorecard:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/18597/scorecard/1140069/pakistan-vs-west-indies-1st-t20i-wi-in-pakistan-2018/ 

All figures are correct on April 1, 2018.

Lowest-ever T20I scores (85 and below):

Live link: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283172.html

We see that WI’s total is among the lowest in all T20Is, but still ahead of the record of 39 all out by Netherlands in 2014, in the course of the T20I World Championships. Their previous lowest was 79/7 against Zimbabwe in 2010, which you can see in the above total. The previous lowest all-out total was 101 against Sri Lanka in 2009, in the course of the T20I World Championship.

Pakistan recorded its joint-highest T20I total, as it had also made 203/5 against Bangladesh at Karachi in 2008. This is however not too high in the all-time list of high T20I scores, which is headed by Australia’s 263/6 against Sri Lanka in 2016.

Highest T20I totals by Pakistan:

And Pakistan also recorded its highest margin of victory:

It can be seen that it is the second-highest margin (by runs) in all T20Is, surpassed only by Sri Lanka’s demolition of Kenya in the first T20I World Championship. It is also the largest victory margin in matches between full members. Pakistan’s previous record was 103 runs against New Zealand in 2010.

Live link: http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/content/records/283283.html

 

Pakistan-a bastion crumbles.

First have a look at the entire history of Tests involving Pakistan at neutral venues:

The 1999 match was part of the Asian Test championship which had the final played in Bangladesh, which was not a Test country at that time.

Apart from 9/11, an attack near the hotel where NZ’s team was staying in Karachi in early 2002 resulted in matches being moved out of the country. This began with a 3-Test series against Aus (with the first Test at Colombo and the next two at Sharjah). Australia won this 3-0.

After this, serious cricket returned to Pakistan for some years before the Lahore incident involving the SL team in Lahore in 2009 made it the last Test to be played in Pakistan.

Here are the matches played IN Pakistan since 1999:

In this period Pakistan lost 2-1 to Sri Lanka in 2000, 1-0 to England later in 2000, 2-1 to India in 2004, and 1-0 to SA in 2007 before the end came in early 2009. The UAE become Pakistan’s adopted home from 2010 onwards, after one neutral series against Australia in England.

Although some series were drawn, Pakistan did record a 3-0 victory against England in 2012, and a 2-0 victory against Australia in 2014. While they beat WI 2-1 in late 2016, they lost 2-0 to Sri Lanka in the just concluded series. This involved their first loss at Abu Dhabi, and the first series loss in the UAE since 2010. And their last 3 Tests in the UAE have resulted in successive losses at Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Certain venues like Bridgetown and Karachi were regarded as “fortresses” where visiting teams hardly ever won there. There are even such fortresses in domestic cricket including the IPL.

But the UAE may not be a fortress any more-which resulted in Pakistan moving from 1 to 7 in the rankings quite rapidly.

 

More about the honors boards at Lord’s-1

The feats of scoring a century, five wickets in an innings and ten wickets in a match in Test matches are documented on the boards at Lord’s. There are separate sets of boards for the home team (England), visiting teams and (more recently) teams in neutral Tests.

A total of 135 Tests have been played at Lord’s from 1884 to 2017. 133 involved England and only 2 were neutral. They were: Aus v SA in 1912 as part of the Triangular Tournament, and Aus v Pak in 2010.

3 Tests (including one neutral Test) were played in 1912 and 2010. From 1928 onwards (except in 1940-45) Lord’s has always had at least one Test. When England started hosting two visiting teams in 1965 (starting with NZ and SA) Lord’s always had a Test for each side. Since 2000 there have always been two teams and thus two Tests at Lord’s, except in 2010 when there were three.

Neutral Tests at Lord’s:

We first look at the scanty entries on the boards for neutral Tests:

Centuries:

Two from 1912 and none from 2010.

Five wickets in an innings:

In contrast, there are two from 2010 and none from 1912. Watson and North recorded their first five-fors. In North’s case, he was an occasional bowler and this was his only five-for in Tests.

Ten wickets in an innings:

No instance. The two best match bowling figures are 6-55 by MJ North (as above) and 6-140 by Pakistan’s Mohammed Asif in the same match.

To be continued:

 

 

The triple clean sweep

The triple clean sweep in all 3 formats of cricket has been recorded once before, when Pakistan visited Australia in 2009-10. Australia won the Tests 3-0, the ODIs 5-0 and the single T20I (admittedly by only 2 runs). You can see the details here:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/series/index.html?season=2009%2F10;view=season

The second Test was won by the comparatively narrow margin of 36 runs.

Then came the ODIs:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/series/index.html?season=2009%2F10;view=season

The first 4 ODIs were rather one-sided although Australia won the 5th one by 2 wickets.

And finally:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/series/index.html?season=2009%2F10;view=season

Australia won this by just 2 runs, making it a 9-0 sweep. Remember that this was in their home country.

Nothing like this was achieved until India visited Sri Lanka in 2017:

Tests 3-0 with Sri Lanka losing by big margins:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/series/index.html?season=2017;view=season

ODIs 5-0, all by handsome margins except one win by 3 wickets:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/series/index.html?season=2017;view=season

And the T20I by a good margin:

http://www.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/series/index.html?season=2017;view=season

Thus India emulated Australia’s 9-0 triple clean sweep, with somewhat bigger margins of victory. But unlike Australia, they achieved this away from home.

Salute Virat Kohli and his men.

Kohli captained all 9 matches, but faced a bewildering array of captains:

Tests: Herath, Chandimal, Chandimal

ODIs: Tharanga, Tharanga, Kapugedara, Malinga, Tharanga

T20I: Tharanga

In contrast, the Australian captain Ponting faced M. Yousuf in the three Tests and 4 of the 5 ODIs, when Afridi came in for the last one. In the T20I it was Clarke vs Shoaib Malik.

Tail piece:

Earlier, India won a T20I series 3-0 in Australia in early 2016 which was believed to be the only clean sweep by a visiting team in Australia in any format of cricket in a series of at least 3 matches:

https://abn397.wordpress.com/category/australia-t20/

The jinx in India-Pakistan matches

Note: This was written before the start of the 2017 Champions Trophy.

It is often said that India dominates Pakistan in ICC tournaments. Hence the “Mauka Mauka” ads which aired at the beginning of the 2015 World Cup.

Let us see take a closer look at the history of these encounters. First, the World Cup:

India and Pakistan never met in the World Cups of 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1987. They were somehow always drawn in different groups so they could have met only in the semi-finals or finals. It was not until 1992 that they met in the World Cup. In that tournament all teams played each other in the knockout stage.

They met in the quarter-finals in 1996, Super Six in 1999, and a pool match in 2003. India won all these matches so the feeling of a jinx over Pakistan kept growing.

In 2007, both India and Pakistan were jinxed and failed to proceed beyond the pool stage, being displaced by Bangladesh and Ireland respectively.

In 2011, India won in the semi-final and repeated this in a pool match in 2015. So India have won all 6 encounters.

If you want to see the scorecards, open this link and click on the blue square on the extreme right.

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=2;filter=advanced;opposition=7;orderby=start;team=6;template=results;trophy=12;type=team;view=results

Now we go to the T20 World Championship. We will come back to the Champions Trophy at the end.

The teams met twice in the inaugural championship in 2007. Though the match in the pool stage was a tie, India got the winner’s points as they won in the bowl-out which was then the method used to determine the winner of a tied match.

Then India won against Pakistan in the final. The teams did not meet in 2009 and 2010. India won the next three encounters in 2012, 2014 and 2016. All of these were in the group stages and not the semi-final or final. Thus India leads 5-0 (including the tie) in the World T20 Championship.

You can see the scorecards from this link:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=3;filter=advanced;opposition=7;orderby=start;team=6;template=results;trophy=89;type=team;view=results

For details of the bowl-out in the first match in 2007, see the commentary section rather than the scorecard.

But the story in the Champions Trophy is somewhat different:

India and Pakistan did not meet in 1998, 2000 or 2002 (when India shared the trophy with Sri Lanka). Pakistan won the first encounter in 2004 in the group stage. They did not meet in 2006. Pakistan won in 2009, also in the group stage. India finally won in 2013, in a group match on their way to the trophy.

So the jinx on Pakistan in ICC tournaments does not apply to Pakistan in the Champions Trophy, where they lead India 2-1. Let us see what happens when they meet on June 4. India currently has a higher ranking than Pakistan, but that has no bearing in high-tension encounters like these.

See the scorecards here:

http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=2;filter=advanced;opposition=7;orderby=start;team=6;template=results;trophy=44;type=team;view=results

 

 

Review of Tests between the West Indies and Pakistan-2

Continuing our review of all Tests between these teams, after the conclusion of the recent series.

Bowling-20 or more wickets:

Imran and Akram top the list, with Walsh having the most wickets for the West Indies. Among current players there are Yasir Shah (46), Bishoo (36) and Gabriel (25). The most 5wi are 6 by Imran and 5 by Yasir Shah. No one has taken 10wm more than once.

Best innings bowling-all cases of 6wi and above:

While Croft and Imran have the best innings figures for their teams, Yasir Shah’s 7-94 and 6-63, Mohammad Amir’s 6-44 and Gabriel’s 5-11 are from the just-concluded series. The second best figures of 8-49 were by Bishoo in the series in the UAE last year.

Best match bowling-all cases of 9wm and above:

Gabriel and Yasir Shah recorded 9-wicket hauls in this series, although the overall record of 12-100 was set by Fazal Mahmood long ago. Bishoo and Yasir Shah had  10-wicket hauls last year in the UAE.

Bowling averages (Minimum 2000 balls)-all instances:

Croft has the best bowling average with Marshall and Wasim Akram close behind.

Of current players, Yasir Shah and Bishoo can be seen here.

The best economy rates are 2.05 by Gibbs and 2.36 by Fazal Mahmood.

The best strike rates are 39.6 by Waqar Younis and 41.7 by Croft.

Fielding: 12 or more dismissals:

The record of 29 dismissals was set by Alexander long ago, though Kamran Akmal and Moin Khan are second with 25. The most stumpings is by Imtiaz Ahmed (8) and most by non-keepers 23 by Viv Richards and Younis Khan. Dowrich and Sarfraz Ahmed are slowly moving up.

Best innings fielding: 4 or more dismissals:

The record of 5 is shared by DL Murray, Moin Khan and Kamran Akmal (twice). The most by non-keepers is 4 by Mathias, Logie and Taufeeq Umar.

Best match fielding: 5 or more dismissals:

The much-maligned Kamran Akmal has the record of 9 dismissals, while Imtiaz Ahmed holds the record of 3 stumpings. The most catches by non-keepers is 5 by Logie, Taufeeq Umar and Younis Khan. Younis achieved this in the 2nd Test of this series.

Best dismissal rate (20 or more innings):

No wicket-keepers figure in this list as none of them played enough. The best dismissal rate is by Younis Khan followed by Viv Richards.

All-round performance (see criteria in table):

Even with these modest criteria, only Imran Khan qualifies with a respectable total of 775 runs and 80 wickets.

All-round match performance (fifty and 5wi in match):

Oddly enough, Imran did not achieve this but the then captain Mushtaq Mohammad’s all-round performance is one of the finest for Pakistan. And we are reminded of Gayle’s lesser-known bowling capability.

 

 

 

Review of Tests between the West Indies and Pakistan-1

Pakistan’s tour of the West Indies in 2016-17 was historic in more than one way. Besides the overly sentimental last Test series for Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq, this was the first time that Pakistan had won a Test series in the West Indies. Pakistan had won series in Pakistan and neutral venues before. But their best results in the West Indies had been draws; 1-1 in 1987-88, 2005 and 2011. Until their 2-1 victory this time.

Here is a summary of all Tests between the two countries:

As we can see, Pakistan has consistently done better at home and in neutral venues, but not in the West Indies. There was a long gap between 1959 and 1975 when these teams did not meet.

We start with the batting records:

Most runs (500 and above):

Among current players, Younis Khan has the highest with 1030 followed by Azhar Ali, Misbah-ul-Haq and RL Chase.

M. Yousuf has the most centuries (7) followed by Inzamam and Lara with 4. M. Yousuf also has the most scores of 50-plus (10) while several others have 9. The most by a West Indies player is 9 by Viv Richards.

Highest individual scores (125 and above):

While Gary Sobers’s former world record has pride of place, it is followed by Hanif Mohammad’s ultra-defensive 337 from the same series. From the current series only Chase (131) and Azhar Ali (127) qualify.

Best batting averages (minimum 20 innings, all instances):

Wasim Raja surprisingly tops this, while only Younis Khan is here from current players. Many prominent players such as Mohammad Yousuf, Gary Sobers and Misbah did not play enough innings. But you can see their averages in the first table above.

Enough for now. Will look at bowling, fielding and all-round records in the next post.