India - Pakistan: 1986-87 Test Series

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Pakistan gained their first series win in India by winning the fifth and final Test. The details are as under:

Captains:
India : Kapil Dev, Pakistan : Imran Khan

Summary of Results:

#	Dates	India	Pakistan	Venue	Result
1	3-8 February 1987	527-9d	*487-9d & 182-3	Chennai	Drawn
2	11-16 February 1987	*403 & 181-3d	229 & 179-5	Calcutta	Drawn
3	21-26 February 1987	*465-8d & 114-2	341	Jaipur	Drawn
4	4-9 March 1987	323	*395 & 135-2	Ahmedabad	Drawn
5	13-17 March 1987	145 & 204	*116 & 249	Bangalore	Pakistan won by 16 runs

* denotes batted first and 'd' denotes innings declared.

Summary: Matches 5, won by Pakistan-1, drawn -4.

Highlights:

Chennai:
Shoaib Mohammad's painstakingly maiden Test hundred enabled the Mohammad father/son combination to emulate that of the family Nazar in scoring centuries against India. Imran Khan, on 68 when the ninth wicket fell, completed his third Test hundred with a six and he went on to his then highest score (135 not out), hitting five sixes and 14 fours. A crowd of 50,000 saw K. Srikkanth race to his second Test hundred off 118 balls (two sixes,14 fours), with his second fifty requiring only 32 balls. His opening partnership of 200 with Sunil Gavaskar remains the highest by either side. Ijaz Ahmed began his Test career at the age of 18 years and 136 days.

Calcutta:
Set 356 to win in 285 minutes plus 20 overs, Pakistan settled for a draw. Night watchman Salim Yousuf batted 216 minutes for 43 and Javed Miandad 235 minutes for 63 not out. Sunil Gavaskar ended his record of 106 consecutive Test appearances when he refused to play in Calcutta because of crowd's abuse in earlier matches. Mohammad Azharuddin scored his fifth hundred in Tests, his partnership of 143 with Kapil Dev set a sixth-wicket record for India against Pakistan. Roger Binny's best analysis in Tests (6-56) included a spell of 4 for 9 in 0 balls. The attendance exceeded 70,000 each day.

Jaipur:
Rajasthan provided Test cricket with its 61st venue, the 16th in India. Ironically no furtherTest was to be played on this ground.The left-handed Younis Ahmed (39) was recalled by Pakistan 17 years and 111 days after his previous appearance; only G Gunn (17 years 316 days) had endured a longer interval, although in terms of Tests missed, Younis exceeded the previous record (103 by England's D Shackleton) by one.For the third time in his Test career Sunil Gavaskar was dismissed off the first ball of the match (bowled by Imran Khan). Pakistan's then President, General Zia-ul-Haq, watched part of the second day as part of his "Cricket for Peace" mission. Ravi Shastri scored his seventh Test hundred while Azharuddin completed his second hundred in successive innings.Torrential rain, which seeped under the covers on the rest day and resulted in controversial pitch repair involving sawdust, led to the third day being abandoned when Imran threatened to refuse to bat.

Ahmedabad:
Shortly after tea on the third day, Sunil Gavaskar, playing his 212th innings in his 124th Test, late cut a two to take his score to 58 and became the first batsman to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket. A jubilant crowd invasion delayed play for more than 20 minutes. Ijaz Faqih reached both his fifty and hundred with sixes and added 154 with Imran Khan to set a Pakistan seventh-wicket record against India. Shivlal Yadav took his 100th wicket in his 34th Test. Kapil Dev scored 50 off 52 balls. Abdul Qadir acquired his 150th Test wicket before Wasim Akram claimed the last three wickets in five balls. On the fourth morning the play was suspended for 50 minutes after a section of the crowd had pelted Pakistan's fielders with stones. Play resumed after tea with six of the visitors wearing helmets! The fifth day, mercifully aborted after ten of the final 20 overs, produced just 110 runs.

Bangalore: Pakistan gained their first series win in five visits to India with only their second victory here, the first being in October 1952. This remarkable result,which broke a stalemate of 11 successive draws, was achieved after the tourists had been dismissed for their lowest total against India. This was India's first defeat in 18 matches since September 1985. Maninder Singh's best analysis in Tests included a spell of four wickets in 13 balls.In his final Test innings, with India requiring 221 for victory on a turning pitch of eccentric bounce, Sunil Gavaskar gave supreme exhibition of temperament and technique lasting 323 minutes and 96 runs, during which he completed 2,000 runs against Pakistan. The next highest contributor was extras with 27. He ended his career holding then the following world records: most matches (125), most consecutive matches (106), most innings (214), most runs (10122), most hundreds (34), most scores of 50 or more (79) and most hundred partnerships (58).

Compiled by Rajneesh Gupta