India and Pakistan in Another Dreary Series, 1960–61. Pakistan, who won the toss and batted first in four of the five drawn Tests, scored 2,481 runs for 68 wickets in 1,101.5 overs at a rate of 2.25 runs per over. India, who had first use of the wicket in only the last Test, scored 2,178 runs off 1,014 overs at an average of 2.14. The difference is virtually negligible, but Pakistan on four occasions set the tempo. Furthermore, while they scored 140 for 3, 146 for 3 declared, and 59 for no loss in the second innings of the Kanpur, Calcutta, and Madras Tests, respectively, they were completely safe from defeat and were able to bat without a care in the world.
In only two Tests did India get a second innings. In Calcutta, they were in peril of losing the game when they batted a second time, and in the final Test, they went in when only ten minutes remained on the last day. In the first four Tests, one was tempted to condone India's rate of scoring because Pakistan took about two days to put up totals of between 300 and 350, and then it was not worth India's while to take risks and try and force a result in the remaining three days. But when it came to Contractor's turn to call the tune in the last Test on an unimpeachable wicket at Delhi, his outlook was no different from that of his rival. Just over a full day's play was lost in the whole series.
Rain took away four and a half hours from the third test at Calcutta. However, the fourth day's play in the Madras Test was curtailed by 20 minutes due to a fire breaking out in a section of the stands, and the start of the final test was delayed by an hour. After accounting for these curtailments, the two teams aggregated 4,669 runs for an average scoring rate of 194.54 runs per day (of five hours) and 38.85 runs per hour. The 200-mark was topped on only 11 of the 24 days, and on half of these occasions, it was on the last day, when a decisive result was out of the question.
But Pakistan must get credit for the highest number scored in a day. Ironically enough, it was on the opening day of the first Test that they made 241 for 1, with Hanif Muhammed batting in all his glory for the only time in his nine innings. The lowest mark was reached by India on the third day of the second Test, when they put on no more than 149. India, I thought, was the superior side, and it was dropping catches at crucial stages that prevented them from winning the Bombay Test. At Delhi, it was through chances for all three batsmen who made sizeable scores that India built up a huge total, and they let the match slip out of their fingers, dropping no less than five catches.
At Bombay, in the first Test, Pakistan were 300 for 1 at one stage. Then followed a collapse that was a virtual landslide, and they were all out for 350. The fear of a recurrence of such a debacle and Hanif Muhammed's loss of form after his magnificent century must have detracted considerably from their confidence, although Saeed Ahmed did more than take over the role of sheet-anchor in their batting. Increasingly Reliable As the series progressed, the middle of Pakistan's batting became increasingly reliable, but rarely did Pakistan in India exude the air of mastery. The only batsman on the Pakistan side who batted always with the demeanor of one in command was Saeed Ahmed.
Imtiaz Ahmed, who opened with Hanif, accumulated 375 runs for an average of 41.60, including a hectic century; at least the latter part of it was at Madras, but none of his big innings were free of chances. At number four in the batting order, Javed Burki looked like a cultured cricketer. He did not come off in the first Test because he joined the team only a couple of days before the game, having stayed back in Pakistan to appear for a public service examination.
But scoring 79 and 48 not out, he provided a backbone for both the Pakistan innings at Kanpur and in Calcutta; he twice topped the 40 mark. He played no small part in saving the final Test, scoring a valiant 61 in the first innings Half of this inning was played practically one-handed because he had been badly injured. Javed Burki could barely grip the bat in the second, but he kept the ball out of the clutches of five or six close fielders for 45 full minutes and aided Mushtaq-homed in halting a collapse.
Mushtaq Muhammed, at number six, proved as resourceful as Burki, more so when things were going against his side. At the start of the tour, he looked like a rabbit for leg spinners, but he dealt with them competently by stretching fully forward to smother the spin. For a small man, he drove with force on either side of the wicket and hooked and pulled without fear. He was struck more than once in trying to hook Desai's kicking deliveries, but it never stopped him from getting behind the line of the ball; his century, which snatched victory out of India's grasp at Delhi, was a valiant effort. He did not make many runs in the second inning, but without his long vigil, it might have again folded up quickly.
The tail-enders all took their turns at 45 to rise to the occasion. At Kanpur, Nasim-ul-Ghani, the Pakistanis' only left-hander, played an invaluable innings of 70, a real life-saver. At Calcutta, the hard-driving Intikhab Alam made 56 and enabled Pakistan to touch a respectable mark in the first inning. At Madras, the only Test in which Pakistan declared their first innings, no wagging of the tail was called for, and at Delhi, Mahmood Hussain frustrated India's hopes of a victory by saying Pakistan had a varied attack but not one with the potential to run through the Indian batting.
In a team of 17—too large a compliment for so short a tour—they brought out three fast-medium bowlers, Mahmood Hussain, Muhammed Farooq, who had never played for Pakistan before, and Muhammad Munaf, described before the team arrived as the quickest bowler on the other side of the border. Then came Fazal Mahmood, now bowling with a shortened run and a lower arm at just about medium pace. Among the spinners were off-spinner Haseeb Ahsan and left-arm Nasim-ul-Ghani, both found on the tour to the West Indies in early 1958. Leg-spin was served up by the stocky, swarthy all-rounder Intikhab Alam, who, with Richie Benaud as his model, turned out to be a better leg-spinner than we expected.
The terror of Pakistan's new ball attack was obviously on the wane. Mahmood Hussain had lost much of the speed and lift he had when he came here eight years earlier. Before the tour had advanced very far, the other two pace bowlers, Farooq and Muhammad Munaf, went on the invalid list, and Hussain had a lot of work to do. Fazal Mahmood pulled a muscle in the opening game of the tour, an injury that recurred in the match before the first test and again in the first test. As a run-saver, he was effective, bowling steadily at just short of a length, but only the softish, green wicket at Calcutta gave 46 Pakistani players in India the look of a match-winning bowler. This was one test captured at 5 for 26 in which he was a menace.
In the first Test, Mahmood Hussain and Fazal Muhammed were well supported by Muhammed Farooq, who took 4 for 139 in 46 overs. But he got his first three wickets and that of Roy, Baig Contractor, without much cost. An injured muscle after this Test allowed him only two smaller games, but he returned to the side in the fifth Test and once more bowled effectively, bringing the ball in nicely off the wicket. A bowler with a run-up reminiscent of Ray Lindwall, Muhammad Farooq, at 22, is Pakistan's young bowler of the future, provided, of course, he trains up his muscles to withstand the strain and hard work. Nari Contractor and Pankaj Roy opened for India in the first Test.
If Pankaj Roy did not play again in the series, it was because of his unsure fielding and not because he was not impressive while making 23 runs out of an opening stand of 56. Contractor, who aggregated 319 runs for an average of 53.17, was consistently personified, and contrary to the fears of many, his batting remained unaffected by the onus of captaincy. Pankaj Roy was replaced by M.L. Jaisimha, who made a laborious 99 in almost eight hours in the Kanpur Test and remained Nari Contractor's opening partner for the rest of the series. He never made another big score in four more innings, but he always stayed till the shine was off.
Never did he look anything but a batsman of Test match class. Jaisimha, however, does not enjoy opening the innings because it stifles his stroke play, which is as brilliant as that of any contemporary Indian batsman. Nothing was more unfortunate from the Indian angle than Baig's failure to get going. In contrast to his teammates, the little Oxford batsman sought runs from the very moment he arrived at the crease. He did not play even a full over at Bombay, but at Kanpur, he seemed to be seeing the ball very well and provided a few moments of delightful cricket while making 13.
At Calcutta, he started shakily against the spinners and was just settling down when he made an ill-advised pull and was bowled. Faultless Technique Manjrekar returned to the side for the first time since his knee gave way during the tour of England. Faultless technique makes him a sound and solid batsman despite his capless knee, but his stroke play has certainly been affected. Against Pakistan, he played his drives as handsomely as he always did, but less frequently. Umrigar had a most successful series, with his six innings yielding him 382 runs, including three centuries. Chandu Borde always batted in cavalier fashion, and he invariably changed the complexion of the innings.
He failed at Kanpur after a handsome innings of 41 at Bombay, and the selectors wanted his head. Had Milkha Singh not reported ill on the morning of the match, Chandu Borde would not have played at Calcutta, where he saved India with innings of 44 and 23 not out. When Haseeb Ahsan at Madras was threatening to mow down India for a paltry score after Pakistan had put up 448 for 8 declared, their highest total of the series, Chandu Borde played the longest innings of his career, 177 not out, and again proved himself the man for a crisis.
He played another useful inning in Delhi, but this time his touch was unsure. As I have said earlier, India played Surendra Nath in only two Tests, trying to make do with either Surti or Umrigar as the other opening bowler. A great burden therefore fell on Tiny' Desai, and bowling 215.5 overs, more than any other Indian bowler, he captured 21 wickets at an average of 29.76.
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