Tour of  Sri Lanka 2001       Captain: Saurav Ganguly

45th Test tour by India

Fifth Test-playing tour of  Sri Lanka by India

3 Tests under Saurav Ganguly  Sri Lanka won 2-1

Other Indian tours

Previous tour  

Zimbabwe 2000-01

Next tour

South Africa 2001-02

Next Sri Lankan tour

2008-09

Members of the Test tour  party (15)

Opening batsmen: Shiv Sundur Das, Sadagoppan Ramesh,

Middle-order batsmen: Soujrav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Hemang Badani, Mohammad Kaif

Wicket-keepers:  Sameer  Dighe

Spinners: Harbhajan Singh, Sairaj  Bahutule, Rahul  Sanghvi, Dinesh Mongia.

Fast bowlers: Javagal Srinath, Harvinder Singh, Venkatesh Prasad, Zaheer Khan.

 Representation of teams:  

Ba - Baroda (1)

Bn  -  Bengal (1)

B  -  Bombay (3)

D -   Delhi (2)

Hd - Hyderabad (2)

Hy -  Haryana (2)

K -   Karnataka (2)

MP - Madhya Pradesh (1)

Pj -  Punjab (2)

Rj -  Rajasthan (1)

TN - Tamil Nadu (1

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(14 August 2001) :

 25 yrs  11 months

ODI: Part of the Coca Cola Cup squad

Test Appearances made before the tour

Tendulkar 84,  Srinath 52,  Dravid 45,  Ganguly  43,  Prasad  30,  Ramesh 16,  Harbhajan 13,  Das 8,  Zaheer 5,  Dighe 3,  Harvinder 2,  Badani 1,  Bahutule 1,  Mohammad Kaif 1,  Sanghvi 1,  D Mongia 0.

Team Officials

Selectors

Chairman Chandu Borde, arrived in Mumbai two hours late from Pune due to torrential rains.  Other members of the selection committee were NS Yadav, AO Malhotra, S Madan Lal and TA Sekhar

Selection

Unavailable  Anil Kumble (recovering from right shoulder surgery) Sachin Tendulkar (at first - toe fractured in Zimbabwe).  Tendulkar was then chosen subject to fitness test,  with Jacob Martin standing by.

The one-day squad (for the tri-series) was named 9 July : Three or four players wiould be picked for the Test series. 

The ODI series ended on 5 August.  The Test squad was chosen on 2 August

Unavailable for Test series:   Laxman (knee) and Nehra (groin)  Kumble was still injured

Test tour party announced :  2 August

Tendulkar was chosen subject to fitness test on 1 August, with Jacob Martin standing by.

Time between selection and departure from India

  7 days

 (9 July - 16 July)

Test team announced 17 days after arrival in Sri Lanka

Travel

Members of the team arrived in trickles to the five-star hotel close to the airport, from various cities on 15 July, ready to leave for Colombo on Monday afternoon 16 July.

The team departed from Chennai Airport and arrived to a rousing reception and press conference at the Taj Samudra Hotel.

Tendulkar was intended to leave on 1 August to play in the ODI match on August 2. 

Srinath, Ramesh and Prasad arrived on 7 August.

Time spent in Sri Lanka

   49 days

(16 July - 3 September)

On-tour selection

Ganguly (captain),  Dravid (vice-captain), Tendulkar,  Wright (coach)

Reinforcements

At end of ODI series, VVS Laxman (injured right knee cartilage) and Ashish Nehra (strained left groin) had to leave for India for investigation and treatment.

Sachin Tendulkar was pronounced unfit to take part on 10 August and Baroda's Jacob Martin flew to Colombo on Sunday morning 12 August.

Javagal Srinath suffered a fracture in his left hand's little finger after being struck by a Dilharo Fernando delivery in the Galle Test and he returned to Bangalore. The Indian Board decided the team would manage without a replacement and the tour management's request for Ajit Agarkar to replace Srinath was rejected.

Fixtures/Results

RPS: Premadasa Stadium    SSC: Sinhalese Sports Club  PSS: P Saravannamutu Stadium

† not first-class

§ one-day international

Time spent in Sri Lanka  before First Test:

29 days

16 July - 14 August)

Test appearances on tour

3 -   Badani, Das, Dighe, Dravid, Ganguly, Harbhajan, Kaif, Prasad, Ramesh, Zaheer Khan

1 -   Bahutule, Harvinder Singh, Srinath.

0 -  

Highlights

•    There were no centuries for India in the series, the nearest being 98* by Ganguly at Kandy. Meanwhile the Sri Lankans scored seven, including four in the innings at Colombo (SSC).

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Tour Summary

Return to India

V V S Laxman (knee) and Ashish Nehra (groin injury) were forced to return home early.

The one-day players Virender Sehwag, Amay Khurasia, Yuvraj Singh, RS Sodhi, Ajit Agarkar and Debashis Mohanty also returned home.

The Test squad arrived back in Chennai from Colombo on  3 September  2001.

John Wright flew back to New Zealand for a short holiday before the South African tour.

Time away from India

  49 days   (depart Ind to 3 September)

Finances

Published accounts of the tour