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The test series between Australia vs Pakistan is named after Pkaitan’s veteran spinner Abdul Qadir and England’s legendary leg spinner Richie Benaud. The title was launched last year on the Australia tour of Pakistan, but the rivalry was already so gripping before the title. This title trophy has only one edition played and won by Australia in 2021-22. This year from December 14 the second edition of the Benaud-Qadir trophy is going to start in Australia and Three tests will be played in this series.
The first test series between these two countries was played in the 1956-57 edition in Pakistan since then 25 test series have taken place between these two teams excluding the Benaud-Qadir trophy. Expectations are high and both teams are strong in the papers so this December is going to witness a rich test cricket competition. Before enjoying the series let’s take a look at the history and stats of this rivalry.
Richie Benaud and Abdul Qadir
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Both players were the great leg spinners from both teams. Richie Benaud played for Australia between 1952 to 1964 as a legbreak bowler. He has played 63 games for his nation and picked 248 wickets. Richie was a decent batter, he scored 2201 runs with three centuries. Benaud has taken the most wickets without giving a single run in an inning. In a test match against India in 1959 at Delhi, he has bowled 3.4 overs with three maidens and three wickets which is the highest wickets with zero runs till today.
Abdul Qadir is a renowned Pakistani leg spinner, between 1977 to 1993 he played 67 tests and 104 ODI games where he got 136 and 132 wickets each. In his long career, he gave many great wins to the Pakistan team and now Pakistan youngsters are mentioning him in a trophy as a special reward for him.
History of Australia vs Pakistan
Australia vs Pakistan has a rich history of cricket and before 2022 the trophy that both teams fought to win hadn’t got any name but still 25 series have been played since 1956. In those 25 series, Australia won 13 of them and only 7 were in favour of Pakistan, 5 of them resulted draw. Pakistan has hosted the first three consecutive series against Australia. From 1996 to 2010 Pakistan lost consecutive six series against Australia without any draw in between. There is only one series consisting of five test matches that happened between these two teams in 1983-84.
Most runs before the Benaud Qadir trophy
| PS | Players | Matches | Runs |
| 1 | Javed Miadad | 25 | 1797 |
| 2 | Alan Border | 22 | 1666 |
| 3 | Gregg Chapple | 17 | 1581 |
| 4 | Ricky Ponting | 15 | 1537 |
| 5 | Zaheer Abbas | 20 | 1411 |
Most wickets before the Benaud Qadir trophy
| PS | Players | Matches | Wickets |
| 1 | Shane Warne | 15 | 90 |
| 2 | Glenn McGrath | 17 | 80 |
| 3 | Dennis Lillee | 17 | 71 |
| 4 | Imran Khan | 18 | 64 |
| 5 | Iqbal Qasim | 13 | 57 |
Benaud-Qadir series
The first and only Benaud-Qadir series happened last year between 4 March to 5 April in Pakistan. That was the three-test match series that Australia won by 1-0. The first test ended in a draw that attracted many controversies related to the surface. The second test again ended in a draw on the last day, Babar Azam scored 196 runs in that game. Both teams have shown great competition but in the last game, the hosts fell short and lost the game by 115 runs. It was the first test win for Australia after 2017.
Most runs in Benaud-Qadir series
| PS | Player | Runs |
| 1 | Usman Khawaja | 496 |
| 2 | Abdullah Shafique | 397 |
| 3 | Babar Azam | 390 |
| 4 | Imam-Ul-Haq | 370 |
| 5 | Azhar Ali | 300 |
Most Wickets in the Benaud-Qadir series
| PS | Player | Runs |
| 1 | Pat Cummins | 12 |
| 2 | Nathan Lyon | 12 |
| 3 | Shaheen Shah Afridi | 9 |
| 4 | Noman Ali | 9 |
| 5 | Mitchell Starc | 8 |
Also Read: ODI Records: Players who have scored a century and taken 4 wickets in a match
