Once, their battle was a treat for the spectators all over the world, once they ruled the world of cricket. Their nail-biting clashes were dominated the more than a decade. Their players charmed crowd all over the world. They were the true champions of the game of cricket in a decade which expanded over 15 or more years. Pakistan vs West Indies series, be it a Test match or an ODI kept the cricket lovers’ heart run fast, it kept them guessing all the time.
In course of time both the teams had lost their glamour and charisma to script epics. But since their battle started both these teams have gifted dramas. The standards for keen, exciting cricket have been maintained in every meeting since, were set the first time Pakistan came to the West Indies for the inaugural series in 1958. A contest closer than the 3-1 advantage to the West Indies suggested was dominated by two phenomenal batting performances that remained indelible in the record books for a time.
In the first Test at Kingston Oval Pakistan was routed for 106 in their first innings and followed on 473 behind, a seemingly hopeless cause. The legendary Hanif Mohamamd dug in defiantly, holding through for the most of the last three days of the six-day Test match. He shared four successive century partnerships and when he was finally out for 337 on the last day, he had been in 16 hours, ten minutes. No one before or since, has batted longer in any first-class match. In the age of T20s such marathon batting is impossible.
A few weeks later Hanif’s feat was surpassed by Garry Sobers at Sabina Park in the third Test. Taking on the full advantage of a Pakistani attack reduced by injuries, Sobers on an ideal batting paradise just sliced the Pakistani bowlers and hammered the then world record 365 not out. In spite of the batting domination the West Indian crowd were thrilled by the pace and guile of the Jamaican long-armed Roy Gilchrist and the art of Fazal Mahmood.
Tackling Gilchrist’s hostile pace by the gritty little Hanif with much guts earned Hanif a palce of respect in the hearts of the West Indian crowd, while the beautiful cutters of Fazal left the local crowd praising the immense talent of Fazal.
Inexplicably, it was another nine years before Pakistan returned to the Caribbean, their meeting in the interim confined to two short series in Pakistan tacked on to the end of full tours of India in 1958-59 and 1964-65. None of the players from the inaugural rubber survived by 1977 but their successors were on equal star billing.
“Big Cat” Clive Lloyd led his West Indies team just developing into the most consistently successful of all time. Fredericks, Greenidge, Richards, Kallicharran, Murray, Roberts, Croft and Holdings were his main men. Mushtaq Mohammad captained an exceptionally talented Pakistan side comprising of Majid, Zaheer, Sadiq, Asif, Wasim Raja, Bari, Imran, Sarfraz , Iqbal Qasim and Sikander Bakht.
From the word go both the teams were aggressive and bold, typified by the stylish hard-hitting left-handed genius Wasim Raja who topped Pakistan’s averages and counted 14 sixes among his 517 runs against that horrifying West Indies pace. They could not be separated over the first four Tests.
The West Indies clung on for a draw in the first Test at Jamaica with their last pair when a Pakistan victory was inevitable. They then won the second Test at Queen’s Park Oval by virtue of a volatile display of fats bowling from Colin Croft who bagged 8-29 and had the better of a high scoring draw at Bourda where Irving Shillingford in only in his second Test.
Inspired by Mushtaq Mohmamd’s brilliant all-round performance, Pakistan squared the series at Queen’s Park second time around to set up the Sabina Park Showdown. On a fast bouncy track, the West Indian venomous fast bowling, legspin of Hollford and Greenidge’s butchery murdered Pakistan. West Indies won the Test series by 2-1.
The next meeting between the two teams was in 1980 in Pakistan. Though Pakistan created flat tracks to negate the West Indies pace battery but it couldn’t avoid a series defeat.
Joel Garner and Sylvester Clarke were astonishing while Imran Khan’s bat blossomed to script his first Test hundred.
In 1986 and 1990, in Pakistan the West Indies demonstrated their resilience by shaking off heavy defeats in the first match to immediately win the second and be denied only by the lack of time.
In the first Test at Faisalabad in 1986, Pakistan were skittled out for 159 in their first innings by the pace of AH Gray. The West Indies made 248 in their first innings with Wasim Akram taking 6-91. Pakistan in their second scored 328 courtesy of some gutsy batting by Salim Yousuf and Wasim Akram helping Pakistan to set the West Indies a target of 240.
But Abdul Qadir’s bomb blasting legspin booked the West Indies for 53! The West Indies blasted Pakistan at Lahore but failed to win the Karachi Test due to the courageous batting performance by Imran Khan and Tauseef Ahmed. Chasing a target of 213 runs Pakistan were reduced to 95-7. But Imran and Tauseef hung at the crease to ensure a 1-1 draw.
It was in this Test series of 1986 at Faisalabad; Imran Khan introduced neutral umpires to cricket by inviting umpires from India. The rest of the world still had their men on both ends.
The West Indies succumbed to a eight wickets defeat against Pakistan at Lahore in 1990 destroyed by the pace of young Waqar Younis and the batting of Salim Malik. But the West Indies blasted Pakistan in the second Test and had the home team back to the wall with six wickets down. Again the third Test ended in a tensed draw.
In the West in 1988, was scripted one of the greatest battles in the history of Test cricket. A clean sweep in the ODI series had given the West Indies a false sense of security. In the first Test the West Indies were without Malcolm Marshall and Viv Richards. Gratefully seized upon by the Lion Imran Khan, his high class fast bowling earned him 11 wickets in the match and Javed Miandad’s 114 secured Pakistan a 1-0 lead in the series.
Ricahrds and Marshall were back for the final two Tests and the fight for supremacy was fierce.
Imran Khan grabbed nine more wickets while Marshall grabbed seven and Richards and Dujon hit centuries in the second Test. Pakistan were set a target of 371 to win the second Test and they were reduced to 5-169 by the West Indian pace battery. But the gritty Javed Miandad hit another hundred and lower order courage saved the Test match for Pakistan.
It set up a grand finale for the Kensington Oval, the West Indian fortress where they had not been defeated since 1935. It was hard to separate which was the best side. Pakistan gave the West Indies a target of 266 runs to win and had the eight of the Caribbean wickets for 207! A Pakistan victory was inevitable.
The tensions were acute, heightened by the frequent Pakistani appeals and angry reactions when umpire David Archer refused one in particular, for a catch at short-leg off Dujon. Heckled for his show of pentulance, Abdul Qadir, the aggrieved bowler, stepped across the boundary to confront a spectator, rattled, Pakistan let the match slip, as Dujon and Benjamin hang on to a cliffhanger.
Imran Khan was crest-fallen. In the five rubbers in which he had been involved against the West Indies, three as captain covering 18 Test matches, Pakistan had been repeatedly frustrated. This time as he wrote later, he was convinced by the fact that he and his men were denied by the umpiring errors.
In 1993, Pakistan toured to West Indies again. The rubber was still not decided. Pakistan led by Wasim Akram came back strongly in the ODI series from a 2-0 down. They could have won the last ODI had the crowd not interfered. But before the Test series Pakistan cricket was hit by drug scandals. And it simply killed the charm of the Test series. Pakistanis were down mentally.
And on which the West Indian capitalized. Ambrose and Bishop devastated while Desmond Haynes and Brian Lara blasted with the bat. The West Indies easily took a 2-0 lead but Inzamam’s magnificent 125 in the third Test denied the Caribbean a 3-0 clean sweep.
But the West Indian kingdom had fallen and a low confident West Indian side was to tour to Pakistan in 1997 and easily the Pakistan start studded side thrashed them by 3-0. Pakistan toured to West In 2000 and the first two Tests were undecided. Inzamam with the bat while Wasim Akram with the ball were simply breath taking. But the decider at Antigua was almost won bu Pakistan as the local umpire denied a short-leg catch and Adams hang on till the end to give the West Indies a one wicket win.
Pakstan toured again in 2005 and managed a 3-0 win the ODIs but couldn’t win the Test series again as they hung on to a 1-1 draw by winning the last Test. In 2006 Pakistan won both the Test and the ODI series against the West Indies at home. Mohamamd Yousuf in this series became the player to score most Test runs in a calendar year to break Viv Richards’ 30 year old record while Lara charmed the Multan crowd with a 216.
Pakistan’s tour to the West Indies so far had been frustrating and was mostly marred by controversies. They are yet to win a Test series in the Caribbean. Pakistanis again are touring the West Indies this year after six long years. This time the Pakistan team is much stronger than the West Indies. Perhaps this is the time that Lala and his men give their nation and their millions of fans a sweet victory in the Test series.
The clash between these two teams is no longer eagerly waited, no longer charm crowds. But still both these team are unpredictable and are capable of creating enough drama and excitement.
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