11 April 2004	Sunday	20 Safar 1425

KARACHI, April 10: When arch-rivals Pakistan and India battle it out in the series-deciding encounter at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium from Tuesday, it will be the 50th Test between these countries.

Prior to the Golden Jubilee Test, Pakistan and India have met 49 times in almost 52-year-old cricketing ties which date back to October 1952.

Pakistan have a decisive advantage of winning 10 out of the 16 Tests which proved conclusive. But a staggering 33 matches, in other words 67.35 per cent, were drawn including unbroken sequences of 13 and 11.

In the inaugural series in 1952-53, won by India, after three decisive encounters, the remaining two were drawn as were the first-ever Test series on Pakistan soil in 1954-55 and the entire 1960-61 rubber in India.

It should be remembered that the Tests in the first two series - 1952-53 and 1954-55 - were played over a duration of four days.

When these two sides finally met again after a gap of over 17 years in Pakistan, the opening Test ended in a draw.

The second procession of drawn Tests took place from the fifth Test of the 1982-83 rubber in Pakistan to the fourth Test of the 1986-87 series in India.

Pakistan and India did not face each other in a Test match for another nine years after the Indians toured here in 1989-80.

However, the most unusual characteristic of the last five India-Pakistan Tests, including the first two of the ongoing series, has been that all these matches were result-oriented.

Of the 49 Tests - including this week's Lahore Test - eleven Indian cities have played host to 27 Tests against Pakistan, while nine cities in Pakistan have so far staged 22 Tests against India.

The city of Lahore has the honour of staging the most number of Tests between Pakistan and India. The second Test of the 2003-04 series was the seventh, but the sixth at the Qadhafi Stadium since the third Test of the 1954-55 rubber was played at the Bagh-i-Jinnah Ground.

The city-wise distribution of the remaining 42 India-Pakistan Tests is: Chennai, Kolkata and Karachi five each; Delhi and Faisalabad four each; Mumbai and Bangalore three each, Kanpur two. A Test each were played at Lucknow, Nagpur, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Ahmedabad, Dhaka, Bahawalpur, Peshawar, Hyderabad (Sindh), Sialkot and Multan.

On Tuesday, Rawalpindi will become the 21st centre (or city) and the 10th in Pakistan to host an India-Pakistan Test. The hosts could not celebrate their 300th Test because India made history in Multan by winning their maiden Test on Pakistan soil.

Now remains to be seen as to who will win the Golden Jubilee Test next week.