Everlasting charm of Pakistan-India cricket rivalry.

April 1978, the news was prominently displayed on the sports page, 'Pakistan stars for Abbas Ali Baig Benefit Match'. Pakistan cricketers in the 1970s were stars, all of them.

I lost little time in reaching out to my childhood friend, Ghaus Mohammad, a famous football commentator now. Ghaus and I would spend hours on the field, sometimes just the two of us. I would bowl and he would keep the wickets. Eventually, he went on to represent Delhi as a goalkeeper in the Santosh Trophy National Football Championship.

The star list was awesome: Asif Iqbal, Majid Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Imran Khan, Mushtaq Mohammad, Sarfraz Nawaz, along with Ian Chappell, Conrad Hunte, David Hookes. For me, the only attraction was Majid Khan; the majestic, graceful, debonair, who could smash the bowlers without moving his feet.

There was no way I was going to miss the match. Bunking school was not the challenge. Getting entry to the Ferozeshah Kotla was. There was no pocket money we could fall back on. It had been spent on buying the cricket kit. And then Ghaus found a solution. The scoreboard at the Kotla was manned by a family which stayed in a two-room house just below the iron structure.

Ghaus reached out to a friend who knew the family well. We were ushered into the house early morning and then surreptitiously into the stand next to the house. It was an easy entry, and we were so delighted to watch the stars in action. My eyes were hooked on the Pakistan cricketers and what a galaxy it was.

To have watched them in action was a grand achievement. The searing heat of Delhi, being April and extremely hot, was forgotten as we soaked in the glory of seeing some of the greatest names from across the border. As expected, Majid Khan made his runs without moving his feet. Zaheer Abbas produced some silken drives the likes of which we had never seen. Imran and Sarfraz bowled with fire. Asif Iqbal made his presence felt too.

There was a young Indian too who made his mark in that match. Kapil Dev arrived with a bang as took the wickets of Majid, Zaheer, and Hunte. It was a memorable game for me and Ghaus and for years we shared the stories with our friends.

Strange, a few months after I watched the Pakistan greats in action I was praying for their failure. India was touring Pakistan and I was now on the other side. I prayed for India to succeed and I also prayed for Majid and Zaheer, Imran and Sarfraz, Iqbal and Mushtaq to fail miserably.

The first Test at Faisalabad was...