Hard to believe with all the heat and dust thrown up by the ongoing Asia Cup cricket championship in Dubai, but it was less than three years after Independence and Partition, in August 1947, that India and Pakistan fielded a joint cricket team in Colombo, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon), in March 1950.

In fact, it was a joint India, Pakistan and Ceylon team against the visiting Commonwealth XI, led by the Australian Leonard Livingstone. The team was on the first of its three tours of the subcontinent between the 1949-50 and 1953-54 seasons.

On the extensive tour of India, the team played five matches against the Indian national side, which were designated as unofficial Tests, as well as a number of other matches. It broke off the tour to make a short trip to both Pakistan and Ceylon, where it played four matches in Kandy and Colombo. The last of these, at the Colombo Oval between March 4 and 6, 1950, was against the joint team, which ended in a draw.

The Commonwealth XI was made up of........

© Free Press Journal