The Indians in Pakistan, 1984-85

The last of the annual three-match Test series between Pakistan and India ended in tragic circumstances when, midway through the tour, the news came of the assassination of India's Prime Minister, Mrs Indira Gandhi. It was a shock to all concerned, and the tour was called off with the third Test at Karachi and the last one-day international still to be played. At the time the second one-day international was in progress and immediately abandoned. The first one-day international, at Quetta at the start of the tour, had been won by Pakistan by 46 runs, while the first two Test matches had been drawn.

Once again umpires came under heavy criticism from a visiting captain, this time Sunil Gavaskar. He said after the first Test at Lahore that "despite the best efforts of the Pakistan umpires to favour the home team we have managed to draw the Test and that is a miracle. Before embarking on the tour of Pakistan we expected close decisions, but what happened in the Lahore Test was pre-planned and pre-determined." The Indian captain's statement created a furore in the Pakistani camp and the Pakistan captain, Zaheer Abbas, retaliated by saying that Gavaskar was applying pressure tactics. Nevertheless, some of the decisions given during the Test matches were certainly unsatisfactory.

The pitches remained as docile as ever, providing hardly any assistance to the bowlers. The second Test at Faisalabad produced 1,174 runs for the loss of only sixteen wickets. Even the mayor of that city condemned the ground authorities for producing "heartbreaking strips", blaming them for keeping spectators away.

Statistical highlights of the tour were the 100th Test appearance of Gavaskar, at Lahore, Abdul Qadir's 100th Test wicket, at Faisalabad, and Zaheer Abbas's twelfth Test century, which equalled Hanif Mohammad's record for Pakistan. In the absence of Imran Khan and Sarfraz Nawaz, Pakistan's opening attack lacked penetration, except in the first Test when India were dismissed for 156 in reply to Pakistan's total of 428. Following on, they were saved by some fine batting by Mohinder Amarnath and Ravi Shastri.

INDIAN TOUR RESULTS

Test matches - Played 2: Drawn 2.

Non first-class matches - Played 3: Won 1, Lost 1, No result 1. Win - Pakistan XI. Loss - Pakistan. No result - Pakistan.

Match reports for

1st ODI: Pakistan v India at Quetta, Oct 12, 1984
Report | Scorecard

1st Test: Pakistan v India at Lahore, Oct 17-22, 1984
Report | Scorecard

2nd Test: Pakistan v India at Faisalabad, Oct 24-29, 1984
Report | Scorecard

2nd ODI: Pakistan v India at Sialkot, Oct 31, 1984
Report | Scorecard

3rd ODI: Pakistan v India at Peshawar, Nov 2, 1984
Scorecard

3rd Test: Pakistan v India at Karachi, Nov 4-9, 1984
Scorecard