Dera Ismail Khan vs Pakistan Western Railways at Lahore in December 1964 shattered first-class records. The Moghalpura Institute provided a perfect batting surface, and the team batting first, Pakistan Western Railways (PWR), certainly knew how to make the best of it. Their opposition for this Ayub Trophy fixture, Dera Ismail Khan (DIK), brought five stock bowlers who sportingly and obligingly trundled to and for the wickets for just over two days.
The PWR batsmen lapped it up. After a relatively early success, Anwar bowled Saeed Butt for 20 when the score was at 44, and the DIK bowlers were run-fodder. Javed Babar and Ijaz Hussain put on 244 runs for the second wicket before Mateen caught and bowled Ijaz Hussain for 124. At the end of the first day, PWR was 415 for two.
Javed Babar, unbeaten on 195 overnight, completed his double-century early the next day but was out soon afterward. Parvez Akhtar, 63 overnight, batted all day and was 301 not out at the close. The PWR was 825 for six after two days of batting. This was already a record for Pakistan. The next morning, PWR went for quick runs. Sharif completed the fourth century of the innings, and the declaration finally came at 910 for six. DIK, all out for 32, failed abysmally to avert the follow-on.
Railways then gambled on a lead of 878 and enforced the follow-on.’ Dera Ismail Khan did even worse, managing only 27 in the second inning and batting for only 28 overs in a total of two innings. They would have needed 31 innings at that rate to reach the Railways’ total, so they lost by an innings and 851 runs, the heaviest-ever defeat in a first-class match. It was the first and last first-class match for Dera Ismail Khan. The PWR vs DIK match will always be remembered in history books.
PWR 910-6 declared (Parvez Akhtar 337 not out, Javed Baber 200, Ijaz Hussain 124, Mohammad Sharif 106 not out, Anwar Hussian 3-295, Inayat 1-279).
DERA ISMAIL KHAN 32 (Afaq Khan 7-14) and 27 (Ahad Khan 9-7).
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