Test cricket grounds of Pakistan: The playing fields of Peshawar

Peshawar belongs to the quintet of Pakistani cities that boast of more than one Test cricket ground. As the capital city of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), previously known as the North West Frontier Province or NWFP, it has a rich cricketing history. With the increasing influx of cricketers from KPK into Pakistan’s national teams, for both the red ball and white ball versions of the game, Peshawar has emerged as a major cricketing centre of the country.

Peshawar Club Ground or Services Club Ground

For many years the Peshawar Club Ground was the principal cricketing venue of Peshawar. Also known as the Services Club Ground, or just the Services Ground, it began hosting first class cricket in November 1938 when a Ranji Trophy match was held here between the North West Frontier Province and Delhi teams.

The first match to be held at this ground after the creation of Pakistan featured an international team. It was a two day encounter between the North West Frontier Province Governor’s Eleven and a visiting Commonwealth Eleven that ended in a draw. In 1953 the ground was inducted to hold Quaid e Azam Trophy matches, serving as the home turf for the NWFP side.

In the winter of 1954-55, India became the first Test playing nation to tour Pakistan for a full Test series. Five Tests were scheduled and the Peshawar Club Ground was chosen as one of the venues for these matches. After three drawn encounters the two teams locked horns again at this ground in February 1955, for the 4th Test which sadly turned out to be a drab affair.

Pakistan spent the entire opening day gathering just 129 runs for the loss of 6 wickets, struggling against the leg spin of Subash Gupte. On the second day Pakistan extended its total to 188 all out with Gupte taking 5 for 63 from 41.3 overs of quality spin.

By the close of play India managed 162 for 3 in reply, with 94 of these runs coming from the bat of Polly Umrigar who was still unbeaten when stumps were drawn for the day. Umrigar duly completed his hundred the next day and top scored with 108 in an Indian total of 245, a lead of 57. Umrigar was helped in his efforts by Vijay Manjrekar, as the two put on 91 runs for the 3rd wicket. Four Indian batsmen, including both Umrigar and Manjrekar, were run out.

Pakistan crawled to 44 for 1 by the third day’s close, and then lost two quick wickets on the fourth morning to be precariously perched at 70 for 4 before Maqsood Ahmed and Imtiaz Ahmed salvaged the situation with an 83 run stand for the fifth wicket. Pakistan were finally bowled out for 182 from 122 overs, with Imtiaz top scoring with 69 and Maqsood contributing a very useful 44. Vinoo Mankad captured 5 wickets for 64 runs in a marathon spell of 54 overs of which 26 were maidens. Altogether, Gupte and Mankad bowled an amazing 191.3 overs in the match, of which 98 were maidens, and took 12 Pakistani wickets between them.

India needed 126 runs for victory but only one hour of play was left in this four day Test. Instead of even attempting to go for a win, India inched to a score of 23 for 1 from 19 overs. A total of 638 runs were scored in this match in 395.3 overs at a funereal rate of 1.61 runs per over.

This is the only Test ever staged at the Peshawar Club Ground, but a year later, in February 1956, the ground was the venue for an unofficial ‘Test’ between Pakistan and the visiting MCC A side. This match, which was the third in a series of four unofficial ‘Tests’, is etched in Pakistan’s cricketing memory as it became linked to a sporting crisis with potential diplomatic repercussions.

In a low scoring match, reminiscent of the encounter against India, the MCC A scored 188 runs in their first innings and then dismissed Pakistan for a paltry 152. However, the MCC second innings was a shambles as they collapsed to 111 all out, leaving Pakistan a target of 148 runs for victory. By the end of the 3rd day Pakistan had reached 130 for 2 and were just 18 runs away from victory with a whole day’s play to come.

Some of the MCC players were unhappy with some umpiring decisions, especially those by one of the umpires Idrees Baig. That evening there was an official dinner at the nearby Dean’s Hotel.

Eight members of the MCC team, including the captain Donald Carr, had gathered in the room of the vice captain Billy Sutcliffe for a private drink of beer before this ‘dry’ dinner. During this meeting a plan was hatched to play a prank on the Pakistani umpire Idrees Baig.

The MCC team was staying at Dean’s Hotel while the Pakistani contingent and the umpires were housed at the Services Club which was practically adjacent to he ground. The initial plan was to invite Idrees Baig to Billy Sutcliffe’s room for a drink after dinner and soak him with water there, but when Baig refused this offer some MCC players hired tongas and went to the Services Club itself. Wearing masks they located Baig, who was still wearing his dinner jacket, gagged him, and forcibly brought him to Dean’s hotel where he was taken to Sutcliffe’s room and drenched with water.

Baig complained and an emergency meeting between the managements of the two teams took place. The MCC initially refused to accept that they were wrong, insisting that this was just a minor practical joke. It was only when the BCCP Secretary Brigadier Cheema threatened to send the MCC team home, that they accepted their mistake and apologised. The President of the MCC, Field Marshal Alexander also realized the gravity of the situation and sent a formal apology to the Governor General of Pakistan, Iskander Mirza, who was also the President of the BCCP. These two men had served together in the British army and the matter was resolved, allowing the tour to continue.

Pakistan duly reached their victory target the next morning without further loss of wickets.

This attack on Idrees Baig was totally uncalled for as the umpiring had been fair and even. Of the 75 MCC wickets to fall in this series 22.66% were through LBW, run-outs or stumpings. The corresponding figure for Pakistan, out of 51 dismissals, was 23.52%.

Arbab Niaz Stadium or Shahi Bagh Stadium

The Arbab Niaz Stadium was built to replace the Peshawar Club Ground with a larger, more capacious and better equipped arena boasting of the first electronic scoreboard at any cricketing ground in the country. Commissioned in 1984 the stadium was then called the Shahi Bagh Stadium, and became Test cricket’s 75th venue. In 1987 the Municipal Corporation of Peshawar changed its name to the Arbab Niaz Stadium to honour Arbab Niaz Mohammad, the scion of a well known family of the KPK. He was the Federal Minister for Sports, Culture and Tourism at the time of the stadium’s inauguration and had earlier also served as the first mayor of Peshawar. In that capacity he had originally initiated plans for constructing this stadium. In his younger days Colonel Arbab Niaz had been involved in the well known Rawalpindi conspiracy case. His brother Arbab Jahangir served as the Chief Minister of the NWFP and his sons also held major political and administrative positions in the province. Lately there has been some controversy regarding a decision by the present administration to rename the ground as the Imran Khan Stadium.

The first international match scheduled to be held at this stadium was an ODI between India and Pakistan which was to be played on 2nd November 1984, but when news came of the assassination of the Indian prime minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi on 31st October, the match was cancelled without a ball being bowled. Just 10 days later, on 12th June 1984, the stadium was eventually formally inaugurated with an ODI against New Zealand which Pakistan won.

The first Test to be staged at the Arbab Niaz Stadium was in September 1995, more than 10 years after the stadium’s establishment. Pakistan beat Bangladesh by an innings in a match that saw the Test debut of an 18 year old Saqlain Mushtaq.

Pakistan’s next Test match here was against the West Indies in November 1997. Pakistan again won by an innings as the West Indies capitulated inside 4 days. Mushtaq Ahmed with 10 wickets for 106 runs was Pakistan’s destroyer in chief.

The following year, in October 1998, Pakistan and Australia played out an unexciting draw on a flat wicket. The highlight of this Test was an unbeaten triple century from the Australian captain Mark Taylor. After two days of batting Australia ended the second day at 599 for 4, with Taylor on 334, which equaled Don Bradman’s record for the highest Test score by an Australian batsman till then. Taylor had played the final ball of the day from Aamir Sohail towards square leg where Ijaz Ahmed, in an athletic display of fielding, stopped what could have been a record-breaking single. In a surprising move, the next morning Taylor declared the Australian innings closed at the overnight score. Many felt that Taylor had magnanimously declined to break Bradman’s record out of respect for the greatest batsman that the game has ever produced. Taylor, however, denies this, saying that he declared because he felt Australia’s score of 599 for 4 over 2 days was enough and he wanted to attack the Pakistani batsman right from the start of the third day.

A month later Pakistan inexplicably lost to Zimbabwe despite taking a first innings lead. Shoddy Pakistani fielding let Zimbabwe off the hook in their first knock and then an unexpected batting collapse by Pakistan in their second outing handed Zimbabwe a comfortable 7 wickets victory, their first Test win overseas.

The next Test at this venue also resulted in a Pakistani defeat as they were beaten by Sri Lanka in March 2000, on a spinning track, with Mutiah Muralidharan taking 10 wickets in the match for 148 runs .

The last Test to be played at the Arbab Niaz Stadium was over 20 years ago, against Bangladesh in August 2003. After taking a first innings lead the visiting side succumbed for only 96 in their second innings as they had no answer to the fiery pace and late reverse swing of Shoaib Akhtar who was ably supported by Umar Gul and Shabbir Ahmed. Shoaib’s 10 for 80 was his first 10 wickets match haul in Test cricket.

Since this encounter over two decades have passed without another Test being staged at the Arbab Niaz Stadium. The last international match held here was an ODI between Pakistan and India in February 2006, which witnessed a crowd invasion onto the field and an official complaint by the ICC match referee Chris Broad.

The Arbab Niaz Stadium has hosted a total of 6 Tests, of which Pakistan has won 3, lost 2 and drawn 1.

The highest team Innings total recorded here is 599 for 4 by Australia in October 1998. Pakistan’s highest innings score here is 580 for 9 wickets, also in the same match.

The lowest team innings total at this venue is 96 by Bangladesh in August 2003, while Pakistan’s lowest total at this ground is 103 versus Zimbabwe in November 1998.

The highest run tally by a batsman at the Arbab Niaz Stadium is 426 for once out by Mark Taylor, who is closely followed by Saeed Anwar with 418 runs at an average of 59.71 and Inzamam ul Haq with 415 runs averaging 69.17.

A total of 7 Test centuries have been scored here with Mark Taylor’s 334 not out the highest. No batsman has scored more than a solitary Test hundred at this stadium though Inzamam has three scores in the nineties to his credit here.

Shoaib Akhtar with 20 wickets at an average of 18.55 runs each, and Wasim Akram with 20 wickets at an average of 13.60 runs per wicket, are the most successful bowlers at this venue. On 10 occasions a bowler has taken 5 wickets or more in an innings with Shoaib Akhtar, Wasim Akram and Mushtaq Ahmed doing so twice each. The most productive spell in an innings is 6 for 50 by Shoaib Akhtar versus Bangladesh in August 2003. There are 3 instances of a bowler taking 10 wickets or more in a match, with the best effort being 10 for 80 by Shoaib Akhtar against Bangladesh in August 2003.

The highest partnership at this ground is a 279 runs stand for the 2nd wicket between Mark Taylor and Justin Langer of Australia in October 1998. The best partnership for Pakistan was also constructed in this same match when Saeed Anwar and Ijaz Ahmed added 211 runs for the second wicket.

The record for the most wicket keeping dismissals in an innings at this arena is 4 and is shared by Ian Healy of Australia in 1998 and Rashid Latif of Pakistan versus Bangladesh in 2003. The highest wicket keeping tally for a match is Rashid Latif’s 6 dismissals against Bangladesh in 2003.

Peshawar has been starved of international cricket for almost 20 years. Many teams have cited it’s proximity to the war in Afghanistan as a reason for staying away from it, resulting in the ground suffering from disuse and neglect. In 2018 plans were drawn up for a major renovation of the stadium to bring it upto modern international standards and also enhance its seating capacity from 14,000 to over 30,000. The project is still underway.

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

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