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If the Afro-Asia Cup resumes, cricketers from India and Pakistan may join hands – just like they had to field a combined XI against Sri Lanka at Colombo ahead of the 1996 World Cup.
The story should begin with the 1983 World Cup final, when BCCI president NKP Salve asked for two extra passes and the MCC turned his request down. An angry Salve vowed to take the World Cup out of England, the only hosts of the tournament until then.
Salve knew it was not the job of one board. He joined hands with Noor Khan and Gamini Dissanayake, his counterparts in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The Asian Cricket Council was founded in 1984. The Asian bloc ensured the 1987 World Cup was co-hosted by India and Pakistan.
Salve had fulfilled his vision, but the Asian bloc went a step ahead. England were all set to host the 1996 World Cup when, in a remarkable turn of 1993 ICC meeting, the Pak-Indo-Lanka Joint Management Committee (PILCOM) trumped them yet again. The three nations hosted the 1996 edition. The two boardroom triumphs out of Asia underlined the might of the three nations joining hands.
Sri Lanka got hosting rights of four of their five league matches (they had to play India in Delhi). Things were on track – until a mere two weeks before the tournament opener. On January 31, the Central Bank bombing in Colombo killed 91 and injured 1,400.
Australia and the West Indies declined to tour the nation, citing security concerns. “I’d like people to look at things from both sides. Put yourselves in our shoes and look at the way we live in Australia compared to the way other people live in the subcontinent,” Australian captain Mark Taylor would later try to explain.
In War Minus the Shooting, Mike Marqusee observed how Taylor assumed that “mutilation and sudden death were intrinsic to south Asian culture and alien to Western culture.”
It did not stop there. Both teams now wanted full points from the games. Sri Lankan board president Ana Punchihewa turned down this preposterous suggestion. ICC chair Clyde Walcott tried to find a midway by offering everyone one point each for both matches. But Punchihewa was having none of it: “This is not a tie or anything.”
The matter was put to vote. Walcott’s suggestion won. Punchihewa now insisted on re-polling. This time Sri Lanka won by one vote. The fans back home missed two matches, but Sri Lanka were assured of four points.
So far, so good, but now Kenya expressed apprehension as well. “If Kenya pulls out, Zimbabwe may also try to pull out,” felt Punchihewa, and reached out to his counterparts, Jagmohan Dalmiya and Arif Abbasi. The two boards promised to send a combined team to Sri Lanka to play against the hosts.
This was no ordinary agreement. Political tension had prevented India and Pakistan from clashing in bilateral series between 1989-90 and 1997-98. Pakistan had even opted out of the 1990-91 Asia Cup in India. However, the Asian bloc decided to put everything aside to combine for this momentous clash.
It would be a day game, and the cricketers would play with a red ball in white shirts, in contrast to the World Cup. The sight-screens of the Premadasa, already painted black for the tournament, had to be repainted white – all this, with only two days left in the tournament.
Mohammad Azharuddin led this combined side. Other Indians featured Ajay Jadeja, Anil Kumble, Ashish Kapoor, and the biggest draw of them all – Sachin Tendulkar. The Pakistan contingent comprised Wasim Akram, the Pakistan captain, along with Waqar Younis, Saeed Anwar, Aamer Sohail, Ijaz Ahmed, and Rashid Latif. Intikhab Alam was named manager.
The Sri Lankan government had prompted into action. Giant banners (from “We salute the brave sons of India and Pakistan” to “Greetings to SAARC solidarity” greeted the touring cricketers, who arrived at the venue alongside dancers and musicians in traditional costumes and a “gaudily decorated elephant”.
After the initial speeches, the match began in front of a crowd of ten thousand that cheered all day for the “3 Musketeers – Arjuna, Azhar, Akram” (text on a placard). Romesh Kaluwitharana flicked the first ball, bowled by Wasim, for four, bringing the fans to their feet. Within moments, Wasim had his man, caught at cover. The fielder’s identity made the dismissal – caught Sachin Tendulkar bowled Wasim Akram – part of cricketing folklore.
It was a 40-over game, and Sri Lanka offered little resistance other than a 70-run third-wicket partnership between Asanka Gurusinha (34) and Arjuna Ranatunga (32). Kumble (4-12) ran through the lower middle-order, while Kapoor (2-34) provided excellent support as the hosts made 168-9.
Tendulkar began the response with a first-ball four through cover, off Chaminda Vaas. By the time Muttiah Muralidaran had him caught at mid-on, Tendulkar had raced to 36. The crowd went wild, cheering loudly for the man who had faced a harsh ordeal in Australia earlier that year when the umpires had called him for throwing.
Azharuddin made 32 as well. At 126-5, the Wills India and Pakistan XI (to give the official name) were in a spot of bother, but Jadeja (28) and Latif (21 not out) saw them home. The tourists won the Wills Solidarity Cup – a contest where participation was of greater significance than the outcome.
Of course, Australia and the West Indies still did not tour, but Zimbabwe and Kenya did. Sri Lanka beat both sides to top the group, and went on to win every knockout match to lift the World Cup. After the final at Lahore, he thanked Azharuddin and Wasim “for coming to Colombo when we were in trouble”.
Since the Partition of 1947, India and Pakistan had played for combined teams before, even alongside Sri Lanka, and had teamed up to form the Asia XI several times in the 2000s even for matches that got ODI status. But none of them had borne such significance.
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