On Nov 22, 1999, under the gloomy skies at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart, Tasmania, Wasim Akram ran hard and bowled a short of length ball to the Australian opener Justin Langer. The ball took an edge of Langer’s bat and the agile Moin Khan behind the stumps grabbed it with ease.

There was a loud appeal by the Pakistanis, but the ‘home’ umpire Peter Parker with a poker face remained unmoved. Perhaps, he didn’t even utter the customary words ‘not out’. Langer looked sheepish, but did not walk off the ground. The bowler and men behind the stumps had nothing but anguish on their faces.

In pursuit of a daunting target of 369 in the Hobart Test, at one point in time Australia were 126 for 5 wickets. The match-winning 238-run partnership between Langer and Gilchrist allowed Australia to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

It is not easy in Australia but one should learn from the past and go boldly Down Under

Even by Pakistan standards, it was an unexpected defeat. The result of this match left such a big mental scar on the Pakistan Test team that they got whitewashed in all the subsequent three series played in Australia. And the cycle is yet to be broken.

In fact, the Sydney Test in 2010 made this scar more horrific. In that match, a ninth wicket partnership of 123 runs between Michael Hussey and Peter Siddle helped Australia to set a target of 175, but the Pakistani batsmen true to their reputation, were bundled out for 139.

In almost 64 years of Pakistan’s cricket history, the team is yet to register a Test series victory in Australia. But cricket fanatics in Pakistan eagerly wait for it. For them, there is a certain ‘ritual’ associated with Test cricket Down Under. Usually Test matches start at 4.30am PST (pink ball Test match excluded) in Australia so the diehard fan in Pakistan tries to sleep early and sets the alarm clock at around 4am. Compared to fans in different parts of the country, a Karachiite usually hits the sack at around 1am, even on weekdays, so following this exercise is nothing short of a feat.

The Pakistan cricket team has played 32 Tests on Australian soil, out of which they have lost 21 and have won only four. Their first-ever Test match was played at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Dec 4, 1964 and the team came out with a draw there, which was not a bad result at all if you consider that all of the other three teams belonging to the Asian region suffered an innings defeat in their inaugural match in Australia. India lost by an innings and 226 runs; Sri Lanka lost by an innings and 108 runs and Bangladesh lost by an innings and 132 runs.

The first time is always the sweetest. It took almost 13 years (since Pakistan played its first Test in Australia) to record their first-ever victory in Australia when they beat the home team at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) in 1977. It was in this match that the world saw the ascendance of Imran Khan. He emphatically confirmed his status as a tearaway fast bowler and took 12 wickets in the match.         

Let’s look at some of the overall past performances by the Pakistani players in Test matches played in Australia.   

Zaheer Abbas is the highest aggregate run scorer for Pakistan. During his playing span (1972-84) he made 1,097 runs with an average of 40.62 in 15 Tests and a highest score of 101 in an innings. Javed Miandad is close second with 1,028 in 16 Test matches.   

As far as bowling is concerned, Big Sarf (Sarfraz Nawaz) tops the table with 50 wickets in 12 matches. Imran Khan is behind him with 45 wickets in 13 Test matches. Contrary to popular belief, Wasim Akram is third in the table with 36 wickets in nine Tests, but he has by far the best bowling average of 24.05 if compared to Sarfraz’s 31.46 and Imran’s 28.51.     

In the wicket-keeping department, Wasim Bari is way ahead with 55 dismissals in 16 matches. Surprisingly, infamous for dropping catches, Kamran Akmal is second with 13 dismissals in 5 Tests to his name.  

The last time the Pakistan team won a Test match in Australia was way back in 1995 at the SCG under Wasim Akram’s captaincy. Since then the tourists have been whitewashed in three series, one after the other, played in the land of the kangaroos.

So can things be any different this time around? After Ricky Ponting’s hanging his boots, the Australian team is not even a shadow of what it used to be.

Also, Australian cricket is in turmoil these days, to say the least. The series defeat against South Africa has made their chief selector resign from the post midway through the home series. So, the Australian Test team is anything but settled.

Yes, Pakistan lost the first Test at the Gabba by 39 runs, but judging by how Pakistan came back into the game and the fight put up by them, the action isn’t over as yet. We will know the whole story after the third Test in Sydney.

If Misbah’s men are able to repeat the England 2016 tour heroics, who knows, we may still have a positive twist in the kangaroo’s tail this time round.

The writer tweets @CaughtAtPoint

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, January 1st, 2017