Pakistan and Australia are two cricket lovers nations. The history History of Australia Pakistan Cricket consists of over 65 years. Both are former World Champions in all formats. Australia is on top of the table in recent times while Pakistan holds the 2nd rank. The upcoming series has a lot of excitement in the form of cricket. The result of the series will have an impact on the rankings of the teams. The history between the two teams has had plenty of excitement, disputes, and controversies. The upcoming series will surely have all three.
So, let’s take a look back into the history of the Australia Pakistan Cricket Series.
The History of Cricket between Pakistan and Australia
Last Sunday, Pat Cummins’ Australia landed in Pakistan for a historic three-Test, three-ODI, and one-off T20I trip, the first to the country in over 24 years.
This will be Australia’s sixth Test visit to Pakistan, with four-Test series against Pakistan played at neutral grounds between 2002 and 2018. (UAE and England).
A brief history of the Australia Pakistan Cricket Series with the timeline is given below.
Year 1956-57
Between the 11th and 17th of October 1956, Karachi’s National Stadium held the first-ever Pakistan-Australia Test on Pakistani territory. Fazal Mahmood, the legendary bowler, was the breakout performance for Pakistan, taking 13 wickets as the Abdul Kardar-led team cruised to victory by nine wickets.
Year 1959-60
In 1959-60, Australia hosted its first-ever Test series in Pakistan, consisting of two or more Tests.
The Australian team headed by Richie Benaud won the first Test in Dhaka by eight wickets before winning the series in Lahore by seven wickets. The series’ third and final Test was held in Karachi.
Year 1964-65
A one-off Test between the two teams in Karachi in October 1964 was a high-scoring contest that finished in a tie. In each innings, Pakistan’s debutant Khalid Ibadullah hit a century, while Australia’s renowned batter Bobby Simpson, who subsequently went on to coach the Australian team to great success in the 1980s and early 1990s, struck hundreds for the visitors.
Year 1979-80
With an eight-wicket win in Karachi, Pakistan clinched the three-match series 1-0. Iqbal Qasim, a left-arm spinner, grabbed 11 wickets to lead the Javed Miandad-led Pakistan to victory. The remaining two Tests, which were held at Lahore and Faisalabad, were also drawn.
Year 1982-83
In the 1982-83 series, Pakistan won all three games by a score of 3-0. As Pakistan batsmen crushed the Australian attack, Mohsin Khan and Zaheer Abbas led the batting rankings for the hosts. With 22 wickets in the series, leg-spinner Abdul Qadir was the destroyer-in-chief, while captain Imran Khan claimed 13 wickets. Pakistan won by nine wickets in the Karachi Test, by an innings and three runs in the Faisalabad Test, and by nine wickets in the Lahore Test.
Pakistan Cricket 1982-83
The Peak of Pakistan Cricket
Year 1988-89
In the first Test of the 1988-89 series, contested at Karachi’s National Stadium, Pakistan’s skipper Javed Miandad struck a stunning double century as Pakistan earned their then-largest Test victory in terms of runs, thrashing Australia by innings and 188 runs. The hosts won the series 1-0, with the Faisalabad and Lahore Tests both finishing in draws.
Year 1994
Pakistan won the Karachi Test of the 1994 series by a single wicket, making it one of the most dramatic triumphs in Test history. The captain, Saleem Malik, then hit a match-saving double century in Rawalpindi and a match-saving century in Lahore to give his team a 1-0 victory over Mark Taylor’s Australians. Taylor made his captaincy debut in the series, and in his first test as captain, he picked up an unlucky pair of wickets.
Year 1998
In 1998, Australia broke a 39-year drought for a series win in Pakistan when Taylor’s team won the three-match series 1-0. The first Test at Rawalpindi was won by Australia by one inning. In Karachi, Taylor made amends for the couple.
Australia Tour of Pakistan 1998
Year 2002-03
In a three-match series in the United Arab Emirates, a new-look Pakistan team captained by Waqar Younis and lacking renowned batsmen like Inzamam ul Haq and Mohammad Yousuf was swept 3-0 by Steve Waugh’s Australia.
Pakistan was bowled out for 59 and 53 in the second Test at Sharjah, recording their lowest-ever Test totals in two days.
Year 2010
In England, the two teams competed in a two-Test series. Pakistan won their first Test against Australia in over 15 years with a stunning three-wicket victory at Headingly Leeds, after losing the Lord’s Test by a large margin. With seven wickets, Mohammad Amir was instrumental in Pakistan’s historic triumph.
Australia Pakistan Cricket Series: A rare source of mutual attraction
Australian cricket has frequently looked down on Pakistan, a country whose cricket challenges categorization and vibrates with distinctive talent.
During the tour, the Australian men will play three Test matches, the same number of ODIs, and one T20 match against the Green Shirts. Rawalpindi will host the opening Test match of the series on March 4. After that, there will be Tests in Karachi and Lahore, followed by three ODIs and a solitary T20 in Rawalpindi.
After touching down in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, senior batsman Steve Smith shared a photo on Twitter of the 35-strong Australia tour group inside their charter flight’s cabin.
Since a deadly terror assault on a visiting Sri Lankan team’s bus in 2009, Pakistan has struggled to lure international teams. After a suicide bombing at a church in Lahore five years ago, Australia cancelled a visit.
They last visited Pakistan in 1998, where they won the three-match Test series 1-0 and blanked the hosts in three one-day internationals.
Pakistan looked to have satisfied international cricket authorities last year, with both New Zealand and England slated to travel. Pakistan had been obliged to play their home games abroad, largely in the United Arab Emirates.
However, the Black Caps abruptly left in September, only minutes before their first match, claiming security concerns, and England postponed both men’s and women’s trips.
The decisions infuriated Pakistan cricket officials, who believed they had done all necessary to secure the safety and security of their players.
Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc, and more are among those who have landed in Pakistan today.
Officials from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) greeted the players when they arrived at the Islamabad International Airport.
Pakistan vs Australia, the mind game
Despite all of Australia’s statistics and analytics, no one knows how the pitches in Pakistan will perform in the next three-Test series.
The necessary preparation has been completed, but considering that Pakistan has hosted six Tests since 2009 (with no Tests being played for ten years owing to security concerns), the Australian team will be flying into Islamabad blind.
To comprehend the game of the Men in Green, the Australian cricket team is viewing matches from the seventh season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) before they visit Pakistan this month, interim coach Andrew McDonald disclosed to the media.
Australia’s ongoing Tour of Pakistan combines Goodwill and Cricket
Sport may have diplomatic costs, as Australia has lately learned. The Australian men’s cricket team is now negotiating these ancillary challenges ahead of their upcoming trip to Pakistan. The squad is set to visit the nation in March and April, but there is still a shadow hanging over the journey. Rather than being a result of concerns about the epidemic, the team’s security is proving to be a major hurdle.
Other countries have begun to return to Pakistan to play cricket since 2018, although largely in shorter formats rather than the famed five-day Test matches. South Africa became the first team since 2009 to play a Test match in Pakistan last year. However, Australia’s next tour to Pakistan is poised to be the most comprehensive, with three Test matches and a handful of shorter-format games scheduled. The visit is crucial for Pakistan because of Australia’s standing as one of the game’s heavyweights.
Australia, on the other hand, is cautious. New Zealand hastily cancelled their tour of Pakistan on the morning of the first game in September, fleeing the country hurriedly due to security fears. England followed suit and cancelled the October games it had planned in Pakistan. Teams are apprehensive about playing in Pakistan.
Another factor for Australia’s hesitancy might be that Cricket Australia (the sport’s governing body) does not appear to prioritize playing nations other than India and England. The “Big Three,” as they’ve been known, control the sport’s financial model and, as a result, are only interested in competing against one another (with rare India vs Pakistan matches being an obvious exception).
The issue is that the Big Three aren’t always the best three options. New Zealand was the highest-ranked country in Test cricket until two weeks ago, although Pakistan, South Africa, and Sri Lanka are all formidable opponents. If the tour goes forward, Australia’s games against Pakistan will surely be of a higher level than their previous walkovers of England. Cricket enthusiasts, particularly Pakistani cricket fans, would be aware of this.
The Pakistani government has a strong financial incentive to keep visiting athletes safe, and the South African tour was given “state visitor-level protection” last year. It is, nevertheless, in Australia’s best interests to ensure that the tour takes place. The Australian cricket team is an essential part of the country’s soft power, and the goodwill they will generate in Pakistan should be regarded as a vital part of the country’s engagement with South Asia.
Pakistan vs Australia Test Series Named as Benaud-Qadir Trophy
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and Cricket Australia (CA) unveiled the Benaud-Qadir Trophy for the Test series between Pakistan and Australia on Wednesday. The trophy will be handed after each men’s Test series between Pakistan and Australia and is named after two renowned leg-spinners, Richie Benaud and Abdul Qadir.
Conclusion
Cricket is the second most popular sport after Football. It is played in almost every country in the world. The History of Australia Pakistan Cricket Series shows that it is going to be a big series for both teams as they get to know their position in the world of cricket. Both the teams are evenly balanced and on a fresh start. It’s going to be a treat for all cricket lovers. Pakistan and Australia have gone through many ups and downs. Let’s hope that Pakistan and Australia play each other in the future.
