On this day in 1959, Karachi received a rather unexpected visitor: the President of the United States. Dwight D. Eisenhower remains the only sitting American president ever to watch a Test match live, and he arrived just in time to witness a slow, stubborn day of cricket between Pakistan and Richie Benaud’s Australia.
What Eisenhower truly thought of the spectacle—Pakistan grinding their way to 104 for 5—we’ll never know. The moment never earned so much as a line in his memoirs. But the match itself had its quirks. Hanif Mohammad was in the midst of one of his trademark, patient hundreds, and a young Intikhab Alam marked his arrival in Test cricket in style, taking the wicket of Colin McDonald with his very first delivery.
It was a curious blend of politics, history, and cricketing trivia—one of those quietly remarkable days the game occasionally produces.
Politics Meets Cricket: Eisenhower’s Unexpected Visit to a Karachi Test
