Tour of India 1952-53                Captain: A H Kardar
	First official Test tour   First official Test-playing tour of India by Pakistan          (October 1952 -                  January 1953)	The seventh cricket-playing nation to play Test matches took the field on 16 October 1952 when the inaugural India-Pakistan match, official or unofficial, was played at Delhi.  One month previously, Pakistan's touring party had crossed the Wagah frontier on the short road journey into India for its historic 11-week visit.  The tour, arranged in July 1952, created tremendous interest and a close contest was anticipated.  Pakistan had beaten the M.C.C. tourists the year before to win the right to play Test cricket, while India had just returned from a heavy defeat on their 1952 tour of England. In the first tour match 17 year-old Hanif Mohammad showed how accomplished he already was by scoring a century in each innings. However, he and the Pakistan team were overawed by the occasion of their debut Test appearance at Delhi and lost the match by an innings. Then, on matting at Lucknow the team fought back spiritedly and, through Fazal Mahmood’s twelve wickets and Nazar Mohammad's unbeaten century, evened the series with Pakistan's first Test match win.  Pakistan eventually lost the series 2-1 but winning the Lucknow Test by an innings, and having the best of the rain-interrupted game at Madras, boosted the team's confidence. A Test victory in the first series played was a source of great pride for the new nation.	Other Pakistan Tours     No Previous tour   Next tour England 1954     Next tour of India 1960-61
	Members of the Test tour party  (17)     Opening batsmen:  Hanif Mohammad, Nazar Mohammad Middle-order batsmen: Maqsood Ahmed, Abdul Hafeez  Kardar, Waqar Hasan, Anwar Hussain, Rusi Dinshaw, Wazir Mohammad, Wicketkeeper: Imtiaz Ahmed, Khurshid Ahmed Sheikh. Slow bowlers:  Amir Elahi, Khalid Quereshi, Zulfiqar Ahmed. Fast bowlers:  Fazal Mahmood, Israr Ali, Khan Mohammad, Mahmood Hussain	Amir Elahi                 44 type:  LBG   Anwar Hussain   32 RHB  vice-captain   R N (Rusi) Dinshaw   24 LHB   Fazal Mahmood   25 RFM   Hanif Mohammad   17 RHB opener   Imtiaz Ahmed   24 RHB   WK   Israr Ali   25 LHB  LM   A H Kardar   27 LHB SLA  captain   Khalid Quereshi   24 LM   Khan Mohammad   24 RFM   Khurshid Ahmed   18 RHB   second WK   Mahmood Hussain   20 RFM   Maqsood Ahmed   27 RHB   RM   Nazar Mohammad   31 RHB opener   Waqar Hasan   20 RHB   Wazir Mohammad   22 RHB   Zulfiqar Ahmed   25 OB	Average age of  team at time of first Test match  (16 October 1952) : 25 yrs 8 months       KEY   RHB right-handed batsman WK wicket-keeper  OB off-break LBG Leg-break and googly. RFM Right-arm fast-medium  LM  Left-arm medium-paced bowler.
	Test Appearances made before the tour	Kardar 3 for India, Amir Elahi 1 for India.
	Team Officials	Mir Mohammad Hussain Manager Professor Mohammad Aslam Assistant Manager Adam Lal 'Adoo' Mohammad Baggageman
	Selectors	Mr. Justice A R Cornelius (chairman), Daud Khan, Dilawar Hussain, Mohammad Hussain with A H Kardar (captain) co-opted.
	Selection	Training camp : held at Lahore.  Alf Gover or, failing him,  George Headley had been asked to coach the players but neither was available.  Raees Mohammad was among those not chosen from the trials Unavailable : Munawwar Ali Khan (employment) Tour party announced : on 15 September 1952.   The Manager’s name was given out on 24 September.   Reserve : Syed Asghar Ali was named as a reserve, in case Waqar Hasan failed a fitness test.
	Travel	Departure from Lahore was on 8 October 1952. The team crossed the border at Wagah and drove the 27 km to Amritsar. The captain A H Kardar travelled separately by car with Mr. Abdul Rehman, the deputy High Commissioner at Jullundur. Only a few weeks after the team had crossed into India, the police on each side of the border were engaged in an exchange of gunfire.
	On-tour selection	It is likely that Kardar alone chose the teams.
	Reinforcements	After two Tests Khan Mohammad was unable to play (groin injury) but remained with the team in case he should recover fitness. When Khan was first injured, Kardar had asked for the experienced Asghar Ali as a replacement but the selectors in Lahore chose to send out 16 year-old  Khalid Ibadulla.   Kardar is reported to have complained about being "sent out another baby".  Nevertheless on 12 November Ibadulla left for Bombay.  In protest at Asghar Ali's non-selection, a scroll with 5000 signatures was submitted to the Pakistan Board (B.C.C.P.) in Lahore. By coincidence Asghar also flew to Bombay on 12 November, but only to watch the Test match.   After the two matches in East Pakistan the tourists added two East Pakistanis to their squad for the unoffical tour of Burma : Mohsin Ahmed and D.Mohammad Islam.
	Fixtures/Results	Amritsar North Zone Drawn DELHI INDIA  First Test LOST inns 70 LUCKNOW INDIA  Second Test WON inns 43 r Nagpur Central Zone Drawn Ahmedabad West Zone Drawn Bombay Bombay Drawn BOMBAY INDIA  Third Test LOST 10 w Hyderabad South Zone Drawn MADRAS INDIA   Fourth Test DRAWN Bangalore Indian Universities Drawn CALCUTTA INDIA   Fifth Test DRAWN Jamshedpur East Zone Drawn † Calcutta Mr. B.C.Roy’s XII Won 10 w † Dacca East Pakistan Won 9 w † Dacca Governor’s XI Drawn † Rangoon Burma Board XI Won inns 102 † Rangoon Moosa Mahda’s XI Won 142 r † Rangoon All-Burma Won 263 r † Rangoon Health Minister’s XI Won inns	† indicates minor and limited-over matches All other matches had first-class status.
	Test appearances on tour	5 -  Amir Elahi, Fazal Mahmood, Hanif Mohammad, Imtiaz Ahmed, A.H.Kardar, Maqsood Ahmed, Nazar Mohammad, Waqar Hasan. 4 -  Anwar Hussain, Mahmood Hussain. 3 -  Zulfiqar Ahmed. 2 -  Israr Ali. 1 -  Khan Mohammad, Wazir Mohammad . 0 -  Rusi Dinshaw, Khalid Ibadulla, Khalid Quereshi, Khurshid Ahmed Sheikh.
	Highlights	•   Nazar Mohammad’s 124 not out at Lucknow was the first instance of a century for Pakistan and of carrying the bat through an innings. •   Zulfiqar Ahmed (63) and Amir Elahi (47) added 104 for the last wicket partnership at Madras.
	Tour Summary	P W L  D Aban Test Matches   5 1 2   2 - Other first-class matches   7 0 0   7 - Minor matches   7 6 0   1 - All Matches 19 7 2 10 -
	Return to Pakistan	Following the final Test tour fixture against East Zone, a 12-a-side match was played for a Calcutta charity. The match had to be postponed by one day to allow the opposition players to arrive. Afterwards the captain, manager and five players (Mahmood, Maqsood, Khan, Khurshid and Waqar) returned to West Pakistan, while the 11 players remaining in the tour party left Calcutta for Chittagong in East Pakistan on 27 December.  Kardar then arrived back from West Pakistan on 31 December. After two matches the team next flew from Dacca to Rangoon on 6 January, for a fortnight's cricket in Burma. A one-day farewell match arranged for Monday 19 January had to be cancelled. On 21 January the Pakistan team flew from Rangoon to Calcutta and, in an Orient Airways Corvair, on to Karachi. There was a rousing welcome at Karachi’s Quaid-e-Azam Airport and the next day a celebratory reception.
	Finances
	Written accounts of the tour	" Inaugural Test Matches"  by AH Kardar

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