Pakistan vs India: A Walk down Memory Lane by Naved Yazdani

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Event:

India in Pakistan 1978/79

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DateLine: 26th February 2005

 

I still clearly remember that bright sunny morning of late October 1978 at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore as a first-year medical student of King Edward Medical College, when Imran Khan, Sarfraz Nawaz and Saleem Altaf (the present team manager) started bowling at a blistering pace to the Indian batsmen in the second Test of the series. That was a historic day, in fact history was made earlier in the Faisalabad Test which took place between the two sides after a gap of 18 years. But the match itself, apart from its historical importance, did not generate any interesting cricket and ended in a tame draw. That day in Lahore was historical especially for me as I was watching the greats like Bishen Bedi, Erapalli Parsanna, DilipVengsarkar and Bhagwat Chandrasekhar in live action for the first time.

 

It was a nearly full Gaddafi Stadium and all of us were expecting Imran, at that time the most fearsome quick bowler, to strike early as the Lahore track looked green even from some distance. But it was Saleem Altaf who drew the first early blood when he had Sunil Gavaskar caught at slip by Majid Khan. Poor Surinder Amarnath had to face the music and soon was downed by a fiery delivery from Imran who immediately rushed to him to make sure that he was OK. He was, but badly shaken and was back in pavilion soon after. India was all out for 199 and when Pakistan lost an early wicket by close, Wasim Bari (the present chief selector of Pakistan) stepped out to bat. Now Bari was no Zaheer Abbas but he had fulfilled the responsibilities of a night watchman, a role now fast fading, quite ably in the past.

 

When I reached the stadium after the lunch break on the second day, to my surprise and delight, Bari was still frustrating the Indian bowlers and eventually went on to score 85, his highest in Test cricket. That day and the following one belonged to Zaheer Abbas. Never in my whole life have I seen a batsman playing with such a palpable ease in front of the best spin bowling attack of that time. Bedi and Parsanna were bowling with two points and a gully but could not stop Zaheer from repeatedly square cutting them between the point fielders for fours. The crowd and whole of my bunch could only dance and dance on this merciless display of power batting by one of the finest stroke makers of the game. Pakistan amassed a massive 539 and declared their innings. When Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan opened the second innings all of us were expecting a repeat of the first, but we had to wait for long as the openers put on 192 runs for the first wicket. Rest of the batsmen also played well and the match, from Indian point of view, was safely heading for another draw. It is interesting to note that the last 12 Tests between the two countries had ended in dull and tame draws since the 1952/53 series.

 

We were so sure of the fate of the game that for a change (and with heavy hearts) decided to go the lecture theatres. It was immediately after lunch when one of my class mates rushed through the doors of the Anatomy Dissection Hall. He had a small radio glued to his ear and was urging all of us to go to Gaddafi Stadium. "Match is turning on its head. Vengsarkar is out!" As soon I heard that I immediately packed up the dissection, rushed to my mates and within 45 minutes we were in the stands. Earlier Imran had triggered the collapse when he got Kapil Dev out to make India 371 for 4. Syed Kirmani played a gutsy little innings to consume as much time from Pakistan as possible but Imran and Sarfraz were visibly pumped up and among thunderous uproars from the crowd, uprooted the stumps of skipper Bedi and Chandrasekhar to end the Indian resistance.

 

Now the situation was more or less like an ODI game. Pakistan needed some 120 plus to win in about 20 overs. Majid and Sadiq opened the innings with the crowd cheering every run being scored. And suddenly Bedi had a long word with his young bowler Kapil Dev, who after that discussion, started bowling on the 6th or 7th off stump. That irked whole of the stadium and we urged Bedi to show sportsman spirit. Even the ever cool Majid Khan took the off stump out of the ground and grounded it some feet away on the off side and pointed Kapil to bowl there! That was too much for us, we could see that time wasting and negative tactics are robbing us of a victory right in front of our own eyes. But after that act of Majid he became ruthless and I don't think Kapil will ever forget the hammering he received from Majid's bat and our already tired and strained but still shouting throats. Both Majid and Asif scored so quickly that writing seemed very much on the wall for a beleaguered Bedi who in an attempt to look sporting threw the ball to Vishwanath. And when fourth delivery of his over cleared the ropes over long on, history was made in front of us. Yes we had beaten them in a Test match after 26 long years!

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2005 Naved Yazdani)