LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has shortlisted four prominent Test victories while requesting the cricket fans and followers to vote for country’s greatest win in 67-year long history of the country of Test playing.

The victories picked by a five-member panel — comprises of Benedict Bermange, Qamar Ahmed, Dr Nauman Niaz, Osman Samiuddin and Mazhar Arshad — for the polling are The 1954 Oval Test against England, the 1987 Bangalore Test against India, the 1994 Karachi Test versus Australia and the 1999 Chennai Test in India.

The voting will open on July 26 at 10:00am and close on July 29 at the same time following which the results be announced through a PCB media release.

“The poll will be conducted on the PCB’s official Facebook page and Twitter handle, and is linked to the worldwide launch of the ICC World Test Championship, which will take place on July 29.”

Though the panel has explained significance of each of these wins, it have missed back-to-back Test victories in Lahore and Karachi when Pakistan raced against time to beat India in the historic 1978-79 series.

Here is a brief history of the four wins:

The 1954 Oval Test: On the back of Fazal Mahmood’s rich haul of 12- 99, Pakistan became the only country to win a Test on their maiden tour of England. This result, which helped Pakistan to level the four-match series 1-1, still remains unequalled.

The 1987 Bangalore Test: Spinners Tauseef Ahmed and Iqbal Qasim equally shared 18 wickets between them to hand Pakistan their first-ever series win in India after four high-scoring draws as the visitors carved out a thrilling 16-run triumph.

The 1994 Karachi Test: As Australia comfortably inched closer to end their 35-year-long winless drought in Pakistan, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mushtaq Ahmed infused life into the contest with a remarkable stand of 57 as the hosts sealed win by one wicket.

The 1999 Chennai Test: Despite Sachin Tendulkar’s second-innings 136, Pakistan edged India by just 12 runs. The highpoint of this thrilling encounter was the Chennai crowd giving the Pakistan side a standing ovation at the end of the game.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2019