Just weeks after their Test debut in Delhi, Pakistan beat India by an innings and 43 runs at Lucknow on 26 October 1952 to record their first Test victory. Fazal Mahmood took 12 for 94 in the match — 5 for 52 and 7 for 42 — on a matting wicket that he treated as a private playground. Captain A. H. Kardar, who had played for India before partition, became the first Pakistan captain to lift a Test win.
Pakistan, formed as an independent state in 1947, had assembled a cricket board immediately. The Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP) lobbied vigorously for ICC recognition and was admitted in 1952. Many of the players had pre-partition first-class experience in India and were familiar with Indian opponents. Kardar had been a part of the 1946 Indian touring side to England.
After the Delhi defeat there was real worry. Kardar, before the Lucknow Test, told his team to put Delhi behind them and added: 'We will be playing at Lucknow which means luck-now.' Fazal, who had been criticised in the Delhi defeat, had spent days working on his ability to hold the matting ball back across the right-hander.
Pakistan's tour of India in 1952-53 was the first Test series between the two nations, played a little over five years after partition. Pakistan had been admitted to Test status in July 1952 by the Imperial Cricket Conference. Their inaugural match in Delhi ended in defeat by an innings and 70 runs, with Indian off-spinner Vinoo Mankad taking 8 for 52. Pakistan moved on to Lucknow under Kardar with morale low and home crowds expecting another comfortable Indian win.
The Lucknow University Ground used a coir matting pitch, a surface familiar to Pakistan's players from domestic cricket. Pakistan batted first and made 331, with Nazar Mohammed carrying his bat for 124 not out — a feat that earned him the rare honour of being the first batsman to carry his bat in Pakistan's Test history. India replied with 106, Fazal Mahmood swinging the matting-aided ball with vicious late movement to take 5 for 52. Following on, India were dismissed for 182. Fazal claimed 7 for 42 on the fourth morning, beating both edges repeatedly. Pakistan won by an innings and 43 runs.
Kardar, who had played three Tests for India in 1946 as Abdul Hafeez before partition, became the first man to play Tests for two different countries and the first Pakistan captain to win a Test. The Pakistan team returned to Karachi to a hero's welcome. The series was drawn 1-1 over five Tests, an extraordinary outcome for a team only six matches into Test history.
Day 1: Nazar Mohammed bats through the day; Pakistan 215/4 at close.
Day 2: Nazar carries bat for 124*; Pakistan all out 331.
Day 2-3: Fazal 5/52; India 106 all out.
Day 3: India follow on, lose openers cheaply.
Day 4 morning: Fazal takes 7/42; India 182 all out.
Pakistan win by an innings and 43 runs.
Kardar, born in Lahore, leads Pakistan to its first Test victory in the city of Lucknow.
July 1952
Pakistan admitted to the Imperial Cricket Conference.
16 October 1952
Pakistan lose Test debut at Delhi by an innings and 70.
23 October 1952
Lucknow Test begins.
26 October 1952
Pakistan win by an innings and 43; their first Test victory.
December 1952
Series ends 1-1 after five Tests.
“We will be playing at Lucknow which means luck-now.”
“He bowled the matting ball as if he had invented it.”
Pakistan finished the series 1-1, an excellent result for a debut Test team. Fazal took 20 wickets in the series at 25.60. Kardar's reputation as a captain-statesman was made; he would lead Pakistan in their first 23 Tests, winning 6, losing 6 and drawing 11 — a record unmatched by a true founding captain.
Nazar Mohammed's career was tragically cut short the following year when he fell from a balcony and broke his arm; he never played Test cricket again. His son, Mudassar Nazar, would later play for Pakistan.
A foundational result for Pakistan cricket. Within weeks of becoming a Test nation, Pakistan had beaten the country from which it had been partitioned, on Indian soil, on a pitch that arguably suited the home side. Fazal's match analysis remains one of the great new-nation Test performances.
Lucknow 1952 is the foundational Test in Pakistan cricket history. Every subsequent Pakistan win — from the Oval 1954 to Bridgetown 1958 to the World Cup of 1992 — traces a lineage to Fazal's two five-wicket hauls on the matting pitch. The match also began the India-Pakistan Test rivalry that would become one of cricket's most politically charged.
Kardar's status as a player for both India and Pakistan remains historically unique among captains. Fazal would soon be christened the 'Bedser of Pakistan' for his medium-fast cut and seam, and the Lucknow performance launched him into international stardom.
Yorkshire v Essex
1932-06-16
On 15-16 June 1932 Herbert Sutcliffe (313) and Percy Holmes (224*) put on 555 for the first wicket against Essex at Leyton, breaking the world first-class record for any wicket and adding a layer of folklore — including a scoreboard that read 554 for several minutes and a hastily reversed declaration — that has clung to the partnership ever since.
Australia v England
1933-02-14
With the fate of the Bodyline series in the balance and England 216 for 6 chasing 340, Eddie Paynter checked himself out of a Brisbane hospital where he was being treated for acute tonsillitis, taxied to the Gabba in pyjamas and a dressing gown, and batted for nearly four hours to score 83. England drew level on first innings, won the Test by six wickets and the series 4-1.
Australia
1934-09-25
Days after the 1934 Oval Test, Bradman fell seriously ill with appendicitis that progressed to peritonitis. With antibiotics not yet available, he was given little chance of survival; his wife Jessie left Adelaide on a sea voyage to England prepared for the worst. He recovered after weeks of intensive nursing in a London nursing home and returned to first-class cricket the following Australian summer.