The

Pakistan national cricket team The Pakistan national cricket team or Pak cricket team, often referred to as the Shaheens (), Green Shirts, Men in Green and Cornered Tigers is administered by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The team is a Full Member of the International C ...

toured

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in the winter of 1960–61. They played five

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

matches against the

India national cricket team The India men's national cricket team, also known as Team India or the Men in Blue, represents India in men's international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and is a List of International Cricket Cou ...

, and also played against several local Indian squads.

Background

Writing for ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' cricketer

Abdul Hafeez Kardar Abdul Hafeez Kardar PP, HI ( ur, ) (17 January 1925 – 21 April 1996) was a Pakistani cricketer, politician and diplomat. He was the first captain of the Pakistan cricket team. He is one of the only three players to have played Test crick ...

who played for both India and Pakistan maintained that if Pakistan "does well in the first two test matches", they would go on to win the series. He felt that the visiting side had the "strongest batting power house ever to be sent out" by Pakistan and that

Hanif Mohammad Hanif Mohammad PP ( ur, , 21 December 1934 – 11 August 2016) was a Pakistani cricketer. He played for the Pakistani cricket team in 55 Test matches between the 1952–53 season and the 1969–70 season. He averaged 43.98 scoring twelve ...

, "the most matured opener of the game", would the main "hurdle" for India.

Squads

The Indian squad for the series was announced on 30 November 1960.

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

's all-rounder

Rusi Surti Rusi Framroze Surti ( 25 May 1936 – 13 January 2013) was an Indian cricketer who played in 26 Tests from 1960 to 1969. He was a left-arm medium pace and left-arm spin bowler and a lower-order batsman. Surti was also a popular professional fo ...

was the only new inclusion in the squad.

Vijay Manjrekar Vijay Laxman Manjrekar (26 September 1931 – 18 October 1983) was an Indian cricketer who played 55 Tests. He represented several teams (Andhra, Bengal, Maharashtra, Mumbai, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh) in his first-class career. A small man, ...

and

Subhash Gupte Subhashchandra Pandharinath "Fergie" Gupte (Marathi: सुभाष गुप्ते) (; 11 December 1929 – 31 May 2002) was one of Test cricket's finest spin bowlers. Sir Garry Sobers, EAS Prasanna and Jim Laker pronounced him the best ...

made their comeback to the squad after a year. It was reported that the Pakistan squad would be announced only an hour before commencement of the First Test. To their squad announced before the First test,

Ijaz Butt Mohammed Ijaz Butt (born 10 March 1938) is a former Pakistani cricketer who played in eight Test matches from 1959 to 1962. A wicket keeper and right-handed opening batsman, he scored 279 runs from his brief Test career at a modest batting aver ...

, Shujauddin Butt,

Mohammad Munaf Mohammed Munaf ( ar, محمد مناف, full name Mohammad Munaf Mohammad al-Amin, born November 29, 1952) is an Iraqi–American terrorist convicted in 2008 for his role in the March 2005 kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Iraq. He wa ...

and

Intikhab Alam Intikhab Alam Khan (Urdu:) (born 28 December 1941) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer who played in 47 Test matches and four One Day Internationals from 1959 to 1977. He captained Pakistan in 17 Tests between 1969 and 1975. He a ...

were added for the first-class game against

Central Zone The Central Indo-Aryan languages or Hindi languages are a group of related language Variety (linguistics), varieties Spoken across North India and Central India. These language varieties form the central part of the Indo-Aryan language family, ...

Test series

1st Test

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first on what was described as a pitch without the "usual grass" on it while staying "firm" and with "little dew".

2nd Test

The Indian team selectors made changes to the squad following the First Test;

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. Th ...

Naren Tamhane Narendra Shankar Tamhane (4 August 1931 – 19 March 2002) was an Indian cricketer who played in 21 Test matches from 1955 to 1960. He was a wicket-keeper-batsman. His first-class career extended from 1951–52 to 1968–69. He played in the ...

V. M. Muddiah Venkatappa Musandra Muddiah (8 June 1929 – 1 October 2009) was an Indian cricketer who played in 2 Tests from 1959 to 1960. Born in Bangalore, Mysore, Muddiah came up through the Mysore University and Mysore State 'B' team. He studied in the ...

Salim Durani Salim Aziz Durani (born 11 December 1934) is a former Indian cricketer who played in 29 Test matches from 1960 to 1973. An all-rounder, Durani was a slow left-arm orthodox bowler and a left-handed batsman famous for his six-hitting prowess. He ...

were included in place of

Pankaj Roy Pankaj Roy (; 31 May 1928 – 4 February 2001) was an Indian cricketer and former national cricket team captain. He was right-handed opening batsman, he is best known for establishing the world record opening partnership of 413 runs, together ...

Nana Joshi Padmanabh Govind "Nana" Joshi (7 October 1926 – 8 January 1987) was an Indian cricketer who kept wicket for India in 12 Test matches between 1951 and 1960. Personal life Joshi was born in Baroda, Gujarat, India in 1926. His father died whe ...

and

Ajit Wadekar Ajit Laxman Wadekar (; 1 April 1941 – 15 August 2018) was an Indian international cricketer who played for the Indian national team between 1966 and 1974. Described as an "aggressive batsman", Wadekar made his first-class debut in 1958, ...

. The Pakistani side included Alimuddin.

3rd Test

Leading up to the Third Test, pacer Surendranath was included in the Indian squad while

was dropped. Pakistan made one change in the team that played the Second Test;

replaced Alimuddin. A "grassy wicket" aiding bowlers, both seamers and spinners, was expected before the game.

4th Test

The Indian selectors included

Datta Gaekwad Dattajirao Krishnarao Gaekwad (born 27 October 1928), known as Datta Gaekwad, is a former Indian cricketer. He appeared in 11 Test matches, toured England in 1952 and 1959 and West Indies in 1952–53. He captained the Indian team in the 1959 ...

and

Baloo Gupte Balkrishna Pandharinath "Baloo" Gupte (30 August 1934 – 5 July 2005) was an Indian cricketer. He was a leg-spinner. Gupte was born in Bombay in British India. He made his debut under Nari Contractor in 1960–61 against Pakistan led by Fa ...

in place of

Abbas Ali Baig Abbas Ali Baig (born 19 March 1939) is an Indian former cricketer who played in 10 Tests between 1959 and 1967. In a career spanning 21 years, he scored 12,367 runs in first-class cricket at an average of 34.16. He coached the Indian cricket ...

Bapu Nadkarni Rameshchandra Gangaram "Bapu" Nadkarni (4 April 1933 – 17 January 2020) was an Indian international cricketer, mainly known for being an economical bowler. The chances of scoring against him was either nil, or negligible. Nadkarni bow ...

and

after the Third Test. Further, following the first-class game between Pakistan and Indian Board President's XI, wicket-keeper

Budhi Kunderan Budhisagar Krishnappa Kunderan (born Budhisagar Krishnappa Kunderam 2 October 1939 – 23 June 2006) was an Indian cricketer. He played as a wicket keeper for the most of his career, and was an exciting but unorthodox right-handed batsman who ...

and Vijay Mehra were added to the squad. Showers were predicted on the day one of the Test following intermittent rains on the day preceding the game.

5th Test

In the Indian side that played the Fourth Test and the squad,

, Surendranath,

and

were replaced with

Indrajitsinhji Kumar Shri Indrajitsinhji Madhavsinhji () (15 June 1937 – 12 March 2011) was an Indian cricketer who played in four Test cricket, Tests from 1964 to 1969 as a wicketkeeper-batsman. Early life Indrajitsinhji was born in Jamnagar, Gujarat. H ...

Prakash Poddar Prakash Chandra Poddar (18 October 1940 – 29 December 2022) was an Indian first-class cricketer who played for Bengal cricket team and Rajasthan cricket team. After his playing career, he became a Talent Resource Development Officer (TRDO) f ...

and

Vaman Kumar Vaman Viswanath Kumar , often known as V. V. Kumar (born 26 June 1935, Chennai) is a former Indian cricketer who played in two Tests in 1961. On his debut he took five wickets in the first innings against Pakistan in Delhi in 1961. See also ...

for the Fifth.

Broadcast

The series was aired on

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

for Indian listeners. For the Second Test the

Maharajkumar of Vizianagram Lt. Col. Pusapati Vijay Ananda Gajapathi Raju (28 December 1905 – 2 December 1965), better known as the Maharajkumar of Vizianagram or ''Vizzy'', was an Indian cricketer, cricket administrator and politician. Childhood Vizzy was the ...

, Devraj Puri and V. K. Chakrapani served as

commentators Commentator or commentators may refer to: * Commentator (historical) or Postglossator, a member of a European legal school that arose in France in the fourteenth century * Commentator (horse) (foaled 2001), American Thoroughbred racehorse * The Co ...

, while for the Fourth Test, the Maharaja was accompanied by Pearson Surita and P. Ananda Rau, and Pakistan's

Omar Kureishi Omar Kureishi (1928 – 14 March 2005) was a Pakistani writer. He had also worked in the advertising, aviation and journalism industry, writing for '' Dawn'', ''The Pakistan Times'', ''Morning News'' and ''The Guardian'', London. He is best known ...

as the guest commentator.

References

External links

Tour homepage
at

ESPN Cricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

archives * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pakistani cricket team in India in 1960-61 1960 in Indian cricket 1960 in Pakistani cricket 1961 in Indian cricket 1961 in Pakistani cricket Indian cricket seasons from 1945–46 to 1969–70 International cricket competitions from 1960–61 to 1970 1960-61