Who is the only American President to watch a Test match live in the stadium?
The United States of America (USA) is gearing up to raise the level of cricket in the country with franchise league amidst Joe Biden taking up the US presidential role. It might take a while for the USA to become a Test nation and have their president walking up to watch the games. However, one US President had the opportunity of watching a Test match live from the stadium back in 1959.
Who was it?
Dwight Eisenhower, the 34th President of USA, made his presence felt in the VIP stands on the 4th day of a Test between Pakistan and Australia hosted by Karachi’s National Stadium on December 8th. Eisenhower was conferred with the Nishan-e-Pakistan by the Government of Pakistan. It is the highest civilian honour of Pakistan and Eisenhower was among the first few to be conferred by this award.
Ike was intrigued by all types of games and sports. He attended the Pakistan/Australia cricket match in 1959. #ArchivesGameNight pic.twitter.com/vJL84nKkjp
— Eisenhower Library (@IkeLibrary) October 6, 2017
The match Dwight Eisenhower visited was the 3rd and final Test of the 3-match Test series between the hosts and the Aussies. The first two Tests were hosted by Dacca and Lahore which were won by Australia with a margin of 8 wickets and 7 wickets respectively. To avoid a whitewash, Pakistan elected to bat first and batted for as many as 131.5 overs for just 287 runs.
How the match ended
They did end up getting a 30-run lead as Australia got bowled out for only 257. On the day Eisenhower visited the venue, Pakistan moved from 0/0 to 104/5 on a day which was affected by the weather. Pakistan declared their innings at 194/8 with Hanif Mohammad scoring an unbeaten 101. The Australians made 83/2 in pursuit of 225 as only 33 overs were possible before the stumps on the final day.
Though no other US President witnessed a Test match live, George Bush once met Pakistan’s national team during his tour of Pakistan in 2006. He even spent brief time playing with the then Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq. In fact, Bush was hit by a beamer rolled from Inzamam’s hands.
