Faisalabad and Hyderabad are major cities of Pakistan and both have grounds that have hosted Test cricket. Prominent Test cricketers from Faisalabad are Misbah ul Haq, Mohammad Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal, with Hyderabad having produced Nauman Ali and Mohammad Hasnain in recent times.
Iqbal Stadium Faisalabad
Faisalabad is the second most populous city of Punjab and the third largest in the country. A major industrial hub, it is the heart of Pakistan’s textile industry and has been dubbed as the Manchester of Pakistan. Established in 1890, it was one of the earliest planned cities of the British Raj. It was initially called Lyallpur after Sir James Lyall who was the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab at the time. In 1977 the city’s name was changed to Faisalabad to commemorate the memory of the late King Faisal of Saudi Arabia.
Iqbal Stadium was initially known as Lyallpur Stadium, but with the change in the city’s name this arena, too, was renamed as the Iqbal Stadium in honour of the national poet Allama Mohammad Iqbal. Though first class matches had been staged at this ground for some years, the first ever Test match to be played here was in October 1978, against the visiting Indian team. The ground had been renovated for this occasion and could now hold almost 20,000 spectators.
On a flat, bland track batsmen dominated this Test which ended in a draw, the thirteenth consecutive drawn Test between the two sides. This match saw the Test debut of Kapil Dev and a nasty well directed bouncer from him prompted the Pakistani opener Sadiq Mohammad to ask for a helmet, making it the first occasion when a batsman wore this headgear in a Test in Pakistan. The spectators were also treated to a vintage batting display from Zaheer Abbas who mauled the renowned Indian spin trio of Bedi, Prasanna and Chandrasekhar, missing a century in each innings by just four when he was dismissed off an innocuous delivery from Sunil Gavaskar for 96 in the second innings after a brilliant knock of 176 in the first.
Since this inaugural Test the ground has witnessed many interesting performances and incidents that make for engaging reading.
The next Test at this venue was against Australia in March 1980 and it produced more records. Taslim Arif, who opened the batting for Pakistan, made 210 not out, which was then the highest ever Test score by a wicketkeeper. Taslim was also on the pitch for the entire duration of this rain affected Test. After piling up 617 runs in their first innings the Aussies were able to dismiss only two Pakistani batsmen for 382 runs before the match ended. Javed Miandad captaining Pakistan for the first time celebrated with an unbeaten century. In a desperate effort to break the Taslim Arif – Javed Miandad partnership all eleven Australian players were given a bowl, including the wicketkeeper Rodney Marsh who sent down 10 overs for 51 runs. Dennis Lillee denounced the pitch as ‘a graveyard for fast bowlers.’
However, when West Indies toured later that year, they met an entirely different wicket that was friendly to both spin and pace and produced a low scoring match which the Windies won.
Australia played two more Tests at the Iqbal Stadium. In 1982 they were well beaten by an innings, with the leg-spin maestro Abdul Qadir taking 11 wickets in the match while their match in 1988 was drawn. The West Indies also played two further Tests at this venue, losing one and winning the other. It was here in 1986 that they were completely blown away in their second innings for just 53 runs which at the time was their lowest ever total in a Test innings. They were routed by a classical, and lethal, Pakistan combo of reverse swing and leg spin, delivered by Imran Khan and Abdul Qadir respectively, who shared all ten West Indian wickets between them. In 1990 the West Indies beat Pakistan in a very low scoring match dominated by the pace attacks of both sides. Moin Khan and Saeed Anwar both made their Test debuts in this game with Saeed bagging a pair.
After their first visit in 1978, India played four more Tests at the Iqbal Stadium. In 1983 Pakistan secured a comprehensive 10 wicket win in a match that is remembered for an outstanding all round performance by Imran Khan, who made an attacking 117 from just 121 balls and also took 11 Indian wickets in the match for 180 runs. The remaining three matches between these two traditional rivals all ended in high scoring draws. The last Test that India played here was in 2006 and one of the highlights of this match was a blistering 156 from Shahid Afridi off merely 120 balls, with 6 sixes and 20 fours. Inzamam, captaining the Pakistan side, also made a century which would prove to be his final hundred in Test cricket.
Shahid Afridi’s association with Faisalabad is not limited to his imperious century against India. An unsavoury memory is from a Test against England at the Iqbal Stadium in 2005. A gas cylinder inside a drinks dispenser exploded during the evening session, causing a temporary stoppage of play. Shahid Afridi was found guilty of scuffing up the pitch with his boots during this interlude. He was widely criticized and received a ban of one Test match and two ODI’s. A happier memory from this match is of a century in each innings by Inzamam ul Haq who was leading the home team.
Eighteen years earlier another Pakistan-England encounter at this ground had also produced a famous spat, the Shakoor Rana – Mike Gatting affair about which much has been written and said.
In the winter of 1987 England were touring Pakistan for a three-Test series. In the second Test which was played at Faisalabad, England batted first and made 292. Nearing the end of the second day’s play, Pakistan were 106 for 5, and in fading light the English captain Mike Gatting brought in the off-spinner Eddie Hemmings to bowl the last over of the day to Saleem Malik. Midway through the over, Gatting changed his field placings, bringing David Capel in from long leg. Then, as Hemming was running in to bowl, Gatting, who was standing in the slips, signaled to Capel once again. This was noticed by the square leg umpire Shakoor Rana who called for proceedings to be stopped while the other umpire Khizar Hayat declared a dead ball.
When Gatting questioned this decision Shakoor Rana told him that it was against the rules to move players while a ball was being bowled and that this amounted to cheating. Gatting felt that it was permissible as his gesture to Capel had been behind the batsman’s line of vision, and took umbrage at the word cheating. A heated and abusive exchange of words took place along with considerable finger wagging. Rana demanded an apology and when Gatting refused to provide one the umpires did not take the field on the third day. As emotions escalated, the two boards got involved and a brief apology was eventually tendered by the English captain that allowed the game to resume on the fourth day.
The rules of the game explicitly disallow the sort of boorish behavior that Gatting displayed. Six months after this incident he was stripped of the English captaincy for an alleged dalliance with a barmaid, though many feel that the establishment’s mind had already been made up by the Shakoor Rana affair.
In December 1998 a Pakistan versus Zimbabwe Test at Faisalabad was abandoned due to fog, without even a ball being bowled, making it the sixth instance in the long history of the game where a Test match has been called off without any play whatsoever.
In all, 25 Test matches have been staged at the Iqbal Stadium, of which one was abandoned without witnessing any cricket at all. Pakistan has won six of these Tests and lost five. The rest have been drawn.
The highest team total for an innings is 674 for 8 by Pakistan against India in 1984. The lowest score here for a completed innings is 53 by the West Indies in 1986.
The most successful batsman at this venue has been Javed Miandad with 1068 runs from 15 Tests at an average of 56.21. A total of 53 Test centuries have been scored at this ground with the highest score being 253 by Sanath Jayasuria of Sri Lanka. Six of these hundreds have been double centuries with Qasim Omer scoring two of them. The highest number of centuries by an individual batsman is 5 by Javed Miandad.
The highest partnership here is a 3rd wicket stand of 397 between Qasim Omar and Javed Miandad against Sri Lanka in October 1985.
The most successful bowler at the Iqbal Stadium is Abdul Qadir with 42 wickets from 10 matches at an average of 28.36. He is closely followed by Wasim Akram with 41 wickets from 9 Tests at 22.83 runs each. On 25 occasions a bowler has taken 5 wickets or more in an innings with Waqar Younis having done so 4 times. The best bowling analysis for an innings is 7 wickets for 52 runs by Chris Pringle of New Zealand.
There are 5 instances of a bowler taking 10 wickets or more in a match with the leading performance being 12 wickets for 130 runs by Waqar Younis against New Zealand in October 1990.
Syed Kirmani and Saleem Yousuf hold the record for most wicketkeeping dismissals in an innings with 5 each. Kirmani did this in January 1983 , while Saleem’s effort was against New Zealand in October 1990. Saleem’s total tally of 7 victims in the same match represents the most wicketkeeper dismissals for an entire Test.
Niaz Stadium Hyderabad
Hyderabad is the second largest city of Sindh and the seventh most populous one in the country. It is main cricketing arena is the Niaz Stadium which replaced the old Rani Bagh or Queens Park as the premier sporting venue of the city. Situated in the heart of the city, the stadium has been named after Niaz Ahmed, the late sports loving commissioner of Hyderabad, who was the main driving force behind its construction. Occupying an area of around 20 acres, Niaz Stadium can accommodate over 15,000 spectators.
Before cricket made its appearance here the Niaz Stadium had already hosted the National Football Championships in 1959, the year of its construction. The initial first class match here was an Ayub Trophy encounter in March 1962 between South Zone and the Pakistan Education Board. It marked the first class debut of Younis Ahmed the future Surrey and Pakistan batsman, whose elder brother Saeed Ahmed was already an established Pakistan cricketing star. South Zone won but not before witnessing a display of express pace bowling from a 17-year-old Farooq Hameed, whom many consider to have been the fastest bowler that Pakistan has ever produced.
The first international team to play at the Niaz Stadium was a visiting Commonwealth Eleven which included luminaries like Rohan Kanhai, Charlie Griffiths and Basil D’Oliveira.
The first Test match to be staged at this stadium was against England in March 1973 and it ended in a high scoring draw, in which even three full innings could not be completed.
It was then three years later that Niaz Stadium hosted another Test. In October 1976 Pakistan overwhelmed New Zealand by 10 wickets inside four days. The highlights of Pakistan’s performance were centuries by the Mohammad brothers Sadiq and Mushtaq and a stroke filled 98 by Majid Khan. This was Mushtaq’s second successive Test century at the Niaz Stadium, having scored one against England three years earlier. Interestingly, Javed Miandad playing in his first Test series, also flourished as a bowler in this Test, picking up five wickets in the match with his leg spinners and googlies.
In January 1978 Niaz Stadium was allotted a match in the next home series that Pakistan played which was versus England. In a relatively low scoring, drawn match, Pakistan failed to drive home a first innings advantage of an 84 runs lead. They were held up by an obdurate hundred by Geoffrey Boycott, in five and a half hours of solid defence. For Pakistan Haroon Rasheed made a scintillating century, studded with 10 fours and 6 sixes. He reached both his fifty and his hundred with sixes. His 6 sixes were a Pakistani record for then, beating the four that Intikhab had struck in his century against England on the same ground in 1973.
When India visited in 1982-83, Pakistan had hit peak form as a team. The fourth Test of a six match series was held at the Niaz Stadium in January 1983. Pakistan won the toss and batted first, posting a mammoth total of 581 runs for 3 wickets declared. The main feature of their innings was a stand of 451 runs for the 3rd wicket between Javed Miandad and Mudassar Nazar in just 533 minutes. This partnership equalled the world record at the time for the highest partnership in Test cricket, matching the 451 run stand between Bradman and Ponsford against England in 1934. Both Miandad and Mudassar scored double centuries and recorded their highest individual scores till then. India were skittled out for just 189 in their first innings, unable to handle the torrid pace of Imran who took 6 for 35. They fared slightly better in their second outing to get to 273, but still lost by an innings and 119 runs.
The last Test to be played at this stadium was against New Zealand in November 1984. This match had the unique honour of being the 1000th Test in cricket history. Pakistan trailed by 37 runs in their first innings but dismissed the Kiwis cheaply in their second knock for just 189 with eight of the ten wickets falling to the spinners Abdul Qadir and Iqbal Qasim. Pakistan then coasted to their winning target for the loss of just 3 wickets. Miandad and Mudassar, who both made centuries, were involved in a 212 runs partnerships for the 3rd wicket. Miandad’s hundred was his second of the match, making him the second Pakistani after Hanif Mohammad to score a century in each innings of a Test.
Pakistan has never lost a Test or ODI at the Niaz Stadium. Of the 5 Tests that they have played here Pakistan has won 3 and drawn 2.
The highest innings total here is Pakistan’s 581 for 3 declared versus India in 1983. The lowest is 189 by India in 1983 and New Zealand in 1984.
The most successful batsman here has been Javed Miandad with 661 runs from 4 matches at an astronomical average of 330.50 runs per innings. Thirteen Test centuries have been recorded here with Miandad leading the tally with three. The highest individual score here is 280 not out by Miandad against India in 1983.
The most successful bowler on this ground is Abdul Qadir with 16 wickets from 3 Tests at an average of 24.69 runs each. On six occasions a bowler has taken 5 wickets or more in a Test innings at the Niaz Stadium, with Abdul Qadir performing this feat twice. The best bowling performance in an innings is 7 for 87 by New Zealand’s Stephen Boock.
The Niaz Stadium is also remembered for the first ever hat-trick in ODI’s which was taken by Pakistan’s Jalaluddin against Australia in September 1982.
The stadium has sadly fallen into a state of neglect and disrepair and needs a major renovation and uplift to resume its function as a key sporting centre of Sindh.
Dr Salman Faridi is a senior surgeon, poet, sports aficionado and an avid reader with a private collection of over 7000 books.
salmanfaridilnh@hotmail.com
