The India-Pakistan cricket rivalry began much earlier than the World Cups, packed stadiums and high-pressure matches that have come to define it. It started with a Test match in Delhi in October 1952,
just five years after Partition. Pakistan had been granted Test status by the Imperial Cricket Conference in July 1952 after India recommended its admission. Their first-ever Test match was against India at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi, making the fixture historically significant for both countries.
There was little of the modern-day spectacle surrounding an India-Pakistan game. This was the start of a cricketing rivalry that would eventually become one of sport’s most watched rivalries. The first Test was part of Pakistan’s inaugural Test tour of India. The visitors arrived as a new Test nation, while India already had two decades of experience in the format, having played their first Test against England at Lord’s in 1932.
India win the series 2-1 against Pakistan
India were bowled out for 372 in their first innings with Lala Amarnath scoring 124. Pakistan responded with 150, before India declared their second innings at 205/3. Pakistan were then dismissed for 152 as India won by an innings and 70 runs. The result gave India a 1-0 lead in what would become the first Test series between the two countries.
The series itself ended 2-1 in India’s favour with Pakistan securing their first Test victory over India in the second match in Lucknow. The third Test in Bombay was drawn. ICC later described the series as the beginning of the rivalry between the two countries, with India hosting Pakistan on their first Test tour.
For Pakistan, though, simply reaching Test cricket was already a historic moment. The country had only been created five years earlier and was now playing at the highest level of international cricket.
The two teams would go on to meet regularly during the 1950s, but political tensions eventually brought a long interruption to bilateral cricket. After the 1965 war, India and Pakistan did not play each other in a Test for 18 years. They finally resumed their rivalry during Pakistan’s tour of India in 1978-79.
