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Wednesday Oct 22, 2025
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Legendary cricketers Wasim Akram and Sachin Tendulkar played together for Wills Combined Asian XI against Sri Lanka
DUBAI: The farcical comedy that took place during the awards ceremony at the conclusion of the 17th Asia Cup tournament in Dubai on Sunday where India refused to accept the winner’s trophy from Asian Cricket Council (ACC) President Mohsin Naqvi who is also Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and the Interior Minister of Pakistan, just goes to show how much times have changed over the years where politics creeping into sports is ruining everything that sports stands for.
Going back to February 1996, the year Sri Lanka won the cricket World Cup, India and Pakistan players showed solidarity by coming together to play for the Wills Combined XI which was an India-Pakistan Combined side against Sri Lanka to prove to the world that Sri Lanka was a safe place to play cricket after Australia and West Indies had declined to tour citing security concerns.
Australia’s opening match of the 1996 World Cup was set to be played at the R. Premadasa Cricket Stadium in Colombo which had witnessed a bomb explosion the previous month, and West Indies were due to face the host country a week later.
Sri Lanka who was joint hosts with India and Pakistan faced an uncertain future of hosting the World Cup matches due to the decisions taken by Australia and West Indies.
It was then that Pakistan and India came together in solidarity combining to form a dream team called the Wills India and Pakistan Combined XI with top stars from both teams ready to feature in a 40-over warm-up match against Sri Lanka at the R. Premadasa Stadium and clear any doubts over players’ safety. It was played for the Wills Solidarity Cup.
The match took place a day before the start of the World Cup that saw the Wills Combined India-Pakistan XI led by Mohammed Azharuddin take on Arjuna Ranatunga’s Sri Lankan side.
The Wills Asian XI had some dream combinations with Sachin Tendulkar and Saeed Anwar opening the batting and Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis bowling in tandem with Anil Kumble. Aamir Sohail, Ijaz Ahmed, Ajay Jadeja, Rashid Latif and Aashish Kapoor completed their eleven.
Batting first, Sri Lanka managed 168-9 in 40 overs, with Asanka Gurusinha and Ranatunga scoring 34 and 32 respectively and leg-spinner Anil Kumble ending with figures of 8-1-12-4 which eventually won him the Player of the Match award. Waqar and Wasim picked up Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana cheaply. The opening pair was to become the cornerstone of Sri Lanka’s World Cup win a few weeks later.
Sri Lanka spinners, Muttiah Muralitharan and Upul Chandana, picked up a couple of wickets each, but the Combined Wills XI cruised home by four wickets following notable contributions from each of their batsmen, notably Tendulkar 36 and Azharuddin 32.
Despite the show of strength, Australia and West Indies refused to change their stance. Sri Lanka won a walkover in their matches against both teams. Interestingly, both Australia and West Indies faced each other in one semi-final in Chandigarh, where Australia emerged victorious. The other semi-final played at Kolkata saw Sri Lanka being awarded the match against India by default after spectator riots.
Sri Lanka went onto eventually win their maiden World Cup defeating Australia in the final at Lahore.
Intikhab Alam, manager of the Wills Combined XI said: “This is the first time that India and Pakistan are playing as one team in its history. I sincerely hope with this match India and Pakistan will resume cricket ties. I hope it is the turning point. It was a tremendous sight to have both Indian and Pakistan cricketers get together at the airport. I don’t think you can achieve any better goals than that. We are happy to be here and it is the least we can do for our countries.”
Such was the solidarity that existed between India and Pakistan which over the years has sadly eroded due to politics.
Scores: Sri Lanka 168-9 (40) (Asanka Gurusinha 34, Arjuna Ranatunga 32, Aashish Kapoor 2/34, Anil Kumble 4/12)
Wills Combined XI 171-6 (34.3) (Sachin Tendulkar 36, Mohammed Azharuddin 32, Ajay Jadeja 28, Rashid Latif 21*, M Muralitharan 2/46, Upul Chandana 2/35)
