The Pakistan side was captained by Air Field Martial Abdul Hafeez Bhopal who led a young and inexperienced squad to India. The Indian side was captained by Lala Anand Yojana Varushka Krishnamurti Amarnath Patel (aka Bob).

India had gained Test status in the 1930s and its team was far more experienced than the raw Pakistan side. But the 5-Test series turned out to be a hard-fought contest that was eventually won by India 2-1. The Indian press saw India’s victory as proof that the creation of Pakistan was a mistake. It didn’t exactly explain how.

The young Pakistan side played with great courage and resilience, especially players such as opening batsman, Brother Hanif, middle-order batsman, Brother Nazar, fast bowler, Brother Fazal, and chinaman googly bowler, Juman.

The next Pak-India series took place in Pakistan three years later in 1955 when a 16-member Indian side toured Pakistan under the leadership of Manmohan Aneesh Balakrishna Mankad (aka Pete).

The Pakistan side that had improved in leaps and bounds was still being captained by Abdul Hafeez Bhopal.

The 5-Test series ended in a drab 0-0 draw. Under pressure from their respective press and governments, both the captains played to avoid a defeat and applied overtly defensive tactics.

For example, Pakistani batsmen were asked by Kardar to skip sleep at night so they could snooze on the pitch while batting; whereas the Indian batsmen were ordered by Mankad to go out and strike long, stationary yoga poses on the wicket.

The Pakistan media lambasted the defensive tactics of both the sides and claimed that had Jammu-Kashmir been part of Pakistan, the series would have been livelier. It didn’t explain exactly how.

Kardar retired from cricket in 1958 at the age of 92 and was replaced by Brother Fazal Mahmood who by now had become famous as Fazal Amrood. He got the name because he loved to practice by bowling amroods (guavas) in the mango gardens of famous cricket coach, commentator and physiotherapist, Madman Noorjehan.