In April 1987, India and Pakistan played a quadrangular series in Sharjah with Australia and England as other two teams. England, India, and Pakistan won two matches each while Australia lost all three games. England surprisingly was led by John Emburey, who had been to South Africa on a rebel tour. Why Graham Gooch was not leading them, still eludes me. What I learnt later was that he refused to be apologetic about his visit to South Africa. This didn’t go well with the ECB perhaps. While Gooch was not at fault in his explanation – everyone has a right to earn living by using his skill. As a cricketer, he was selling his cricketing skills to earn money. Gooch wasn’t so principled in this matter like Sir Ian Botham, who said that if I ever go to South Africa, I would never be able to face his good friend Sir Viv Richards.
India defeated England with ease while England beat Pakistan. India could have won the trophy by beating Pakistan in the final game but again India slipped to 7 for 3 and lost after a tepid performance.
It was the last international game for India before the world cup later scheduled to be held in India and Pakistan. Now it is a commonplace but, in those times, world cup out of England was a significant event. A lot of things were to change – neutral umpires, 50 overs instead of 60 and most importantly, no more ground invasions like the one happened in the 1983 world cup semifinal where India beat England. Funnily, as depicted in the Bollywood movie 83, India needed just a run to win the game officially, so England’s captain Bob Willis, who was the bowler too, put all the fielders on the offside. No, no, not to save the single by bowling wide outside the off stump, but because the pavilion on the offside was nearer. The strategy for the bowling team, the batsmen and for even the umpires was simple - as soon as Willis delivers and any contact happens between bat and the ball, sprint hard to the pavilion. For all his demon fast bowler image, for all the drama, Willis still ran his famous, marathon run up to deliver this monumental delivery. It is a moment worth watching on YT!
All international matches involving 60 overs an innings were played in the first three world cups. This was to end now although ODIs in England remained 55 overs affair. Therefore, another fun fact: The last 60 over ODI match was the final of the 1983 World Cup.
Who was the favorite for the world cup? West Indies was still strong under Viv Richards. They had beaten Pakistan in Pakistan in 1986 by 4-1, but they had succumbed to England and Australia in 1986-87 Tri Series after losing 5 of the 8 matches. India was good enough for New Zealand, England, and Australia but against Pakistan and West Indies, they looked clueless. Australia was still rebuilding. Pakistan looked strong and determined under Imran Khan with solid batting and a great pace attack, not to forget the wily Abdul Qadir. England were still a strong ODI side backed by solid performances in Australia where they had won another trophy involving West Indies and Pakistan beside the annual tri series. Mike Gatting had inexplicably galvanized them into a robust side with Gooch and Chris broad solid upfront and a strong middle order. Their bowling was uncertain but on recent form, England looked like beating every team. India was grouped with Australia, Zimbabwe, and New Zealand, so were certain to make it to the semifinals. Group B was tougher with host Pakistan, West Indies, England, and ever dangerous Sri Lanka. Before the tournament, Mike Gatting predicted that a team from Group B would win the World cup. It was not far from the reality. Going into form, Pakistan were a favorite with the other host, India.
But before that I recall Pakistan’s tour of England. Now, it was a five-test series, but the first two tests were influenced by rain as I recall. The third test at Headingley, however, belonged to Imran Khan, who took 11 wickets to hustle England to defeat. It was largely possible because the underrated Salim Malik strung together the Pakistan innings by scoring 99 in exceedingly tough conditions.
In the next test match, England tried their best to secure a win on the last day but ran out of time. I recall Mudassar Nazar scored a hundred for Pakistan in the first innings. In the final test, Pakistan scored an insurmountable 700 plus runs in the first innings built on Javed Miandad’s mammoth 260. Imran Khan too scored a hundred in as announced before – his last test match. England scraped to a draw with Mika Gatting’s unbeaten 150 in the second innings after following on.
Thus, Pakistan finally achieved what India had done 16 years ago – defeated England in an away series. However, Pakistan had won a test in England long before India.
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