3 cricketers to have played for both India and Pakistan

The much awaited India-Pakistan series seems to be a forgone reality now, and bilateral cricketing ties between the two nations seem to have hit a roadblock. In the backdrop of this unfolding drama, we take a look at three cricketers who have had the distinct record of playing for both India and Pakistan.

#1 Gul Mohammad

Gul Mohammad (seated on the ground to the right) as part of the 1946 India squad

1947 will always be etched in memory as a momentous year in Indian history. It is not every day that a century long struggle comes to an end, and a liberated country awakens. Some five months before Pandit Nehru delivered his historic speech in the Indian Parliament, a Ranji Trophy final played out in the green expanses of the Central College Ground in Baroda.

Those were the days of timeless matches, and a final between Holkar and Baroda, put forward a contest for the ages; a contest that very well represented the best cricketing talent of Central India. Syed Mushtaq Ali, Colonel CK Nayadu, Hiralal Gaekwad, BB Nimbalkar – all legends in their own might, donned the Holkar colors. In the Baroda ranks, stood tall, the likes of Vijay Hazare, Hemu Adhikari and the Maharaja of Baroda himself.

But little did people know that a certain Gul Mohammad, a Ranji superstar known for his outstanding fielding abilities, would take the match by storm and play the game of his life. Coming in to bat at 91/3 in the second innings, the 25-year old Gul batted for nearly nine hours to put on board, a career high of 319 runs. At the other end, Vijay Hazare notched up 288 runs; as the duo went on to stitch a partnership of 577 runs, breaking the previous-best record of 574 runs held by Frank Worrell and Clyde Walcott. It took another 59 years for the Mohammad-Hazare numbers to be bettered. Such was the magnitude.

While most will remember Gul Mohammad for his 319 run marathon, it was the dominating hundred that he scored while playing for Rest of India against Western India in 1942, that left his calling card at the selectors’ doorsteps. Four years later, his left-handed elegance with the bat and brilliant athleticism while fielding at cover got him his maiden India call-up. Subsequently, he went on to play eight Tests for India including two against his future teammates and five against Don Bradman’s Australia in 1947/48.

A swimmer and a kabaddi player, Gul Mohammad shifted his allegiance to Pakistan after settling there post-independence. In 1956, at Karachi, he became only the third cricketer to represent both India and Pakistan in cricket. That game, which Pakistan won by 9 wickets, also turned out to be his final Test as Gul never played international cricket again. In 1959, he hung up his boots, bringing an end to a 20-year old first-class career, with 118 first-class games under his belt.

Gul Mohammad’s final days were spent as a cricket administrator in Lahore. And years after his death, he is still thought of as the bold man who would never go down without a fight.

#2 Abdul Kardar

The 1954 Pakistan cricket team, captained by Abdul Kardar (seated in the middle)

“...he batted like an Easten mystic,” was the quip made by a young reporter to his copy-typist after the former saw Abdul Kardar in action, playing for the University of Oxford team in an English summer of the 40s. While it’s a different story altogether, that much to the reporter’s chagrin, the typist printed it as ‘... he batted like an Eastern mistake’ – none can contest the fact that when it came to elegance, Abdul Kardar’s name always figured in the top.

Playing for undivided India as Abdul Hafeez, Kardar burst into the scene with Tests in England in 1946. While he failed to score fifty even once in the five innings that he got, he scored a dogged 43 in his debut game at Lord’s, facing a fire-spitting Sir Alec Bedser (who was responsible for seven Indian batsmen in that innings, eleven in the match).

Kardar stayed on in England after the tour, and went on to pursue the coveted degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford. It was in the Parks, that he became well known for his charge-down-the-track batting and economical bowling figures. Post independence, he moved to Pakistan and added the family name Kardar to the already existing Abdul Hafeez.

In 1952, Abdul Hafeez Kardar became the first cricketer to captain Pakistan in Tests and initiated an illustrious list that would go on to include the likes of Imran Khan and Inzamam-ul-Haq. Quite ironically, his debut for Pakistan was against his former teammates, India – and that series might well be remembered for the fact that all three Indians who at some point went on to play for Pakistan were involved in the contest. While Aamir Elahi and Kardar played for Pakistan, Gul Mohammed featured in the Indian XI.

In the 23 Tests that he played and captained Pakistan in, he led his team to victory against all the Test playing nations of that era (barring South Africa of the Apartheid period). This was a tremendous feat as the unquiet ones of international cricket were newcomers and all the victories came under a span of six years since Pakistan’s first Test.

The quintessential ‘Skipper’, Kardar’s career was brought to a close in 1957 in the Caribbean, where history will remember him as one of the few of his time to have chosen to play with a broken finger – and to have done that superbly enough.

In his years as a cricket administrator in Pakistan, he modernised the game with utter sincerity and disregard to dissenting voices. He remained one of Pakistan cricket’s greatest visionaries till he passed away in 1996 while watching one of the televised games of the Cricket World Cup.

#3 Amir Elahi

Amir Elahi (seated left) as part of the India team touring England in 1936

Not only is Amir Elahi known for being one of the only three to have played cricket for both India and Pakistan, he is also one of twenty oldest cricketers to have played in a cricket match.

The leg-break bowler made his Test debut for India in a tour to Australia in 1947, and went on to play five more Tests. All those Tests were played donning the Pakistani jersey.

While Elahi’s international career was too short to be judged on numbers alone, he produced sparkling results in first-class cricket. In the 119 first-class matches he played in, he picked up 506 wickets at twenty-five a piece.

Amir Elahi’s prolific wicket-taking form was most seen while he represented Baroda in the Ranji Trophy, helping his side win the competition in 1946-47. It was his match figures of 9 wickets for 109 runs, alongwith Gul Mohammad-Vijay Hazare’s epic partnership that sealed the title for the Western Indian team.