In one of the most iconic moments in the history of the game, arch-rivals India and Pakistan fielded a combined XI for an exhibition match against Sri Lanka in 1996 at Colombo. The famous Premadasa Stadium witnessed global icons Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Akram, Saeed Anwar and Mohammad Azharuddin being a part of a star-studded XI that played a memorable tie against hosts Sri Lanka.
Batting legends Tendulkar and Anwar opened the innings in the unusual match against the likes of Muttiah Muralitharan and Chaminda Vaas. Interestingly, the Master Blaster also helped Akram in taking the wicket of dangerman Romesh Kaluwitharana. Akram, who was at the peak of his powers in the late 90s, was recently asked to furnish an all-time India-Pakistan XI in the lead-up to the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023 in India.
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Speaking to FoxCricket ahead of the 2023 edition of the ICC event, former Pakistan skipper Akram selected his playing XI that featured players only from India and Pakistan. The legendary fast bowler picked Tendulkar as the No.3 batter and slotted run-machine Virat Kohli to the fifth position in his lineup. However, Akram snubbed current captains Rohit Sharma and Babar Azam from his Indo-Pak playing XI.
'Difficult not to pick Rohit'
"Number three, the great man, Sachin Tendulkar. Hundred international hundreds, can't go wrong. Number four is…. very difficult to pick. I have Mohammad Yousuf, Babar Azam, Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Misbah-ul-Haq, Inzamam-ul-Haq and another great from India - Rohit Sharma. It's difficult not to pick Rohit. But at four, I'm going to go with Javed Miandad because of the way batted and how he assessed situations and he was a gun fielder in his heyday," Akram explained.
'Kapil Dev is my hero'
{{/usCountry}}"Number three, the great man, Sachin Tendulkar. Hundred international hundreds, can't go wrong. Number four is…. very difficult to pick. I have Mohammad Yousuf, Babar Azam, Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Misbah-ul-Haq, Inzamam-ul-Haq and another great from India - Rohit Sharma. It's difficult not to pick Rohit. But at four, I'm going to go with Javed Miandad because of the way batted and how he assessed situations and he was a gun fielder in his heyday," Akram explained.
'Kapil Dev is my hero'
{{/usCountry}}Picking two quality all-rounders in his playing XI, Akram hailed former India skipper Kapil Dev as his hero. The former Pakistani pacer named legendary all-rounder Imran Khan as the captain of his dream XI. "Number five, I'll go with Virat Kohli. You can't just not have Virat Kohli in the playing XI as a selector. Number six, it's Imran Khan for me, batting at number six and skipper obviously. And then, of course, another great, one of my favourite persons, my hero - Kapil Dev," the former Pakistan pacer added. Akram selected ex-India skipper MS Dhoni as the wicketkeeper before picking spin icon Saqlain Mushtaq as the only spinner in his starting eleven. “Nobody can beat this team,” he concluded.
Wasim Akram's combined India-Pakistan ODI XI
1. Saeed Anwar 2. Virender Sehwag 3. Sachin Tendulkar 4. Javed Miandad 5. Virat Kohli 6. Imran Khan (C) 7. Kapil Dev 8. MS Dhoni (WK) 9. Saqlain Mushtaq 10. Jasprit Bumrah 11. Waqar Younis.