He championed Sri Lanka’s case for Test status throughout the 1970s.
Kardar made his Test debut for India and became Pakistan’s first Test captain in 1952 after partition. He later became the President of PCB and pushed Sri Lanka’s case for Test status. He sent coaches and curators to Colombo to improve cricket standards and organized bilateral tours called unofficial Tests. He also inaugurated the Ali Bhutto Trophy between the under-19 teams of the countries and several future stars like Ranjan Madugalle and Javed Miandad emerged.
He lived to see Sri Lanka winning the 1996 World Cup in his hometown of Lahore and passed away a month later in April 1996.