Pakistan are well known for individual brilliance eventuating in centuries, but even that was missing in the last series. Much was expected from the highly skilled right-handed Babar Azam while on his third Test tour to Australia. But 41 in the Melbourne Test was the best he could produce after enjoying considerable success in the previous two series against the Australians.

The just-concluded series also did not witness a single century from a Pakistani, something that has happened only once in the earlier 13 series in Australia—in 1981-82. But Pakistan won the final Test at Melbourne then to deny the hosts a 3-0 result.

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The closest a Pakistani batsman came to three figures in the last series was when Mohammed Rizwan reached 88 in the first innings of the third Test at Sydney. His highly entertaining 103-ball innings ended when he made a mess of a pull shot, only managing to top edge it to Josh Hazlewood off Pat Cummins. Later on, Aamer Jamal was dismissed for 82. In the first two Tests of the series, Pakistan’s best individual scores came from the blade of Imam-ul-Haq (62 in Perth) and Abdullah Shafique (62 in Melbourne).

Australian crowds did witness a plethora of centuries from Pakistani batsmen over the years. Hanif Mohammad scored a masterly one in Pakistan’s first-ever Test in Australia—the one-off game at Melbourne in 1964-65. Hanif was captain then and revealed in his book, Playing for Pakistan, that the best compliment for his 104 in the drawn Test came from celebrated writer Ray Robinson, who wrote, “He [Hanif] lived up to his nicknames, the Little Master and Mr Concentration without overplaying the role that earned him the second.” Hanif was well on his way to score his second century of the game when, on 93, he took off for a single. While his bat got stuck in his left pad, the ball got lodged in between the thigh and pad of wicketkeeper Barry Jarman. The Aussie whipped the bails without the ball in hand, appealed and the umpire gave Hanif out. Jarman was apologetic, but couldn’t reverse the umpire’s decision.

Hanif’s international cricket ended in 1969-70, three years before Pakistan’s next tour to Australia in 1972-73, when his brother Sadiq scored Pakistan’s first century of the series at Melbourne. Mushtaq, another Mohammad brother, scored a first-innings ton in the last Test at Sydney, where Pakistan panicked and got bowled out for 106 while chasing only 159 for victory. Majid Khan also scored a century in that series—at Melbourne, a venue which witnessed a match-winning ton from him in 1978-79.

Zaheer Abbas’s 15 Tests in Australia yielded only one century and 10 half centuries. His 101 at Adelaide in 1976-77 followed his 85 in the first innings. He fell 10 short of a century in the next Test at Melbourne, when he bottom edged a delivery from Gary Gilmour, only to see it hit the stumps.

And how can Javed Miandad be kept away from Pakistan v Australia battles? He scored a hundred in the 1978-79 Perth Test, at a venue where he was severely tested in the one and only warm-up game for his first tour in 1976-77. Asif Iqbal too got a hundred in that Test, albeit in a lost cause.

The match-winning hundred for Asif was the one he smashed off Dennis Lillee, Max Walker and Gilmour at Sydney, where the 1976-77 series was squared. Greg Chappell, Australia’s then captain, wrote glowingly of Asif’s innings in his book, The 100th Summer, while describing the situation where Pakistan were 205-5 in the first innings. “By this time Asif had settled in to take undisputed control, dictating the terms in his habitually quiet, though effective, manner, never giving an inch, and making the going tougher for the attack with each over bowled. It was an innings notable for the extreme concentration and application.” Pakistan ended up winning by eight wickets for their first of four Test wins on Australian soil.

Pakistan did not have it any better from the point of view of centuries than the drawn Adelaide Test of the 1983-84 series when opener Mohsin Khan, one-drop Qasim Omar and No. 4 Javed Miandad scored tons. Mohsin also scored a century in the Melbourne Test.

Hard-hitter Ijaz Ahmed was the next Pakistani after Majid, Asif, Mohsin and Javed to score more than one century in Australia. He did so on the 1989-90, 1995-96 and 1999-2000 tours. At Melbourne in 1989, his 121 went in vain as Pakistan fell 92 short of the 429-run victory target. Imran Khan (136) and Wasim Akram (123) put on 191 for the sixth wicket in the next Test at Adelaide. Qamar Ahmed, the extensively-travelled Pakistan cricket writer, told me on Tuesday that he considered Akram’s innings as the best century by a Pakistani batsman Down Under. “I have reported on a lot of Pakistan centuries there but Wasim’s was the best as per the situation. It left Australia to score 304 for victory and they ended up with 233-6,” recalled Qamar.

Left-handed opener Salman Butt scored centuries on the 2004-05 and 2009-10 tours, but couldn’t help Pakistan taste success. Saeed Anwar, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohd Yousuf, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Yasir Shah and of course Babar are other Pakistani centurions in Kangaroo land.

A Test century in Australia can never be underestimated because the opposition bowling is seldom under-par, the fielding is generally tight and the aggression can never be unrecognisable. How Babar would have hoped for one in this series to make it less forgettable!

mid-day’s group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance.
He tweets @ClaytonMurzello. Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper.