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Tour of South Africa 2001-02 Captain: Saurav Ganguly | |
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| 46th Indian Test tour (September - November 2001)
Third Test-playing tour of South Africa by India
| In Mumbai on 6 September Chandu Borde, chairman of the selection committee asked John Wright to give an evaluation of Ganguly's captaincy, and then named him as captain for the South African tour. The third Test was stripped of its official status | Other Indian tours Previous tour Sri Lanka 2001 Next tour West Indies 2001-02 | |
| Members of the Test tour party | AB Agarkar | Mb | | RHB RFM | ODI | | SS Das | Os | | RHB opener | ODI | | D Dasgulta | Bn | | | ODI | | SS Dighe | Mb | | | | | RS Dravid | K | | RHB vice-captain | ODI | | SC Ganguly | Bn | | LHB captain | ODI | | Harbhajan Singh | Pj | | OB | ODI | | A Kumble | K | | LBG | ODI | | V V S Laxman | H | | RHB | ODI | | A Nehra | D | | LFM | | | BKV Prasad | K | | RHB | ODI | | V Sehwag | D | | RHB opener | ODI | | J Srinath | K | | RFM | ODI | | SR Tendulkar | Mb | | RHB | ODI | | CC Williams | Ba | | | | | Zaheer Khan | Ba | | LFM | | | | Joined the tour party for the | Harvinder Singh | ODI | one-day internationals | J J Martin | ODI | | | | RS Sodhi | ODI | | | | Yuvraj Singh | ODI | | | | | |
| Teams: Ba - Baroda Bn - Bengal D - Delhi H - Hyderabad K - Karnataka Mb - Mumbai Os - Orissa Pj - Punjab Rly - Railways Average age of team at time of first Test match (9 December 1960) : 27 yrs 9 months | |
| Test Appearances made before the tour | Tendulkar | | |
| Team Officials | Dr MK Bhargawa | Tour Manager | John Wright | Coach | Amrit Mathur | Media manager | Andrew Leipus | Physiotherapist |
Dr Mahendra Kumar Bhargawa of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association was named team manager. He also managed Indian tour to Australia in 1999-2000. Shivlal Yadav (secretary of Hyderabad Cricket Association) was offered the post at first until Board president Dr A.C.Muthiah made a u-turn. Amrit Mathur was an IAS officer who worked for the Sports Authority of India | | |
| Selectors | The selectors, CG Borde, S Madan Lal, AO Malhotra, S Jagdale and TA Sekar, along with Ganguly and coach John Wright, met in Mumbai - their last meeting before the Board named a new selection panel. | | |
| Selection | The ODI Team for the tri-series was announced in Mumbai on 7 September 2001. Withdrawal: V V S Laxman (not yet recovered from knee operation). Zaheer Khan who had lower abdominal problems and strain in his right ankle, and Laxman's replacement Hemang Badani (stress fracture of back) also withdrew from the first part of tour Baroda's Jacob Martin and Punjab's Harvinder Singh replaced Badani and Zaheer for the one-day series. Srinath, Tendulkar and Kumble were all declared fit. Ganguly had torn a ligament in the pelvic region and selected subject to fitness. Unavailable : S Ramesh maade himself unavailable for the Test squad on 19 October because of a back injury. The team physio Andrew Leipus came to Mumbai specially to conduct fitness tests, and ruled left-arm pace bowler Ashish Nehra (groin injury) as unfit for the tour. Agarkar was selected from amongst Debasish Mohanty and Baroda's Rakesh Patel. Harvinder Singh, the fast bowling stand-by, seems to have been overlooked. Test squad announced: Chairman Chandu Borde announced the Test squad in Mumbai on 23 October 2001. Connor took Ramesh's place. Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra passed the fitness test Middle-order batsman V.V.S. Laxman had already joined the team in South Africa for the last two one-dayers | | |
| Travel | Physio Andrew Leipus and sports medicine expert Dr Anant Joshi conducted fitness tests at the Wankhede Stadium before the team left for South Africa on 24 September. The 14-man squad with the exception of Ajit Agarkar flew on a South African Airways flight from Mumbai and arrived in Johannesburg to a low key reception, it being a public holiday in South Africa (Heritage Day). The last minute replacement for Ashish Nehra, Agarkar, was summoned from Nairobi where he was playing in a triangular series match for Mumbai He could not leave with the team on 24 September as his visa papers could not be processed in time, and he finally left for South Africa on 26 September. A conditioning camp took place in Johannesburg from September 25-30. The tour proper began on 1 October. V.V.S. Laxman, a member of the Test party, was called in for last 2 ODIs. Connor Williams, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and Sameer Dighe, joined the team for the Test series while Martin, Yuvraj, Sodhi and Harvinder Singh left the team after the ODIs. | | |
| On-tour selection | | | |
| Reinforcements | Sourav Ganguly requested the Board (BCCI) to review the physical fitness of left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan and fly him to South Africa at the earliest should he be declared fit. Laxman was summoned for the last two ODIs when Yuvraj Singh strained intercostal muscles. Rahul Dravid (ruptured shoulder cartilage) was passed fit to play in the Test series. Samir Dighe, the first-choice wicketkeeper, suffered back spasms on the morning of the first Test at Bloemfontein and returned home without playing a game Dasgupta took over, and uncapped Ajay Ratra was placed on standby. The Board asked the Selection Committee to hold a teleconference with the team management and decide whether to send any extra player for the remaining two Tests, | | |
| Fixtures/Results | � Randjesfontein | N.F.Oppenheimer XI | Won 5w | � Benoni | South Africa A | Won 3 w | § Johannesburg | South Africa (1st ODI) | Won 6w | § Centurion | South Africa (2nd ODI) | Won 41r | § Bloemfontein | Kenya (3rd ODI) | Won 10w | § Port Elizabeth | Kenya (4th ODI) | Lost 70r | § East London | South Africa (5th ODI) | Lost 46 r | § Paarl | Kenya (6th ODI) | Won 186r | § Durban | South Africa (ODI Final) | Lost 6w | Chatsworth | UCBSA President's XI | Abandoned | BLOEMFONTEIN | SOUTH AFRICA First Test | Won 9 w | East London | South Africa A | Abandoned | PORT ELIZABETH | SOUTH AFRICA Second Test | Drawn | CENTURION | South Africa Unofficial Test | Lost inns 73 r | | | |
| � not first-class . | |
| Test appearances on tour | 2 - Das, Dasgupta, Dravid, Ganguly, Kumble, Laxman, Sehwag, Srinath, Tendulkar 1 - Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Nehra, Zaheer Khan 0 - Dighe, Prasad, Williams. | | |
| Highlights | • • • • • . | | |
| Tour Summary | | P | W | L | D | Test Matches | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | Other f-c matches | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | Minor matches | - | - | - | - | One-day internationals | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | All Matches | 10 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
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| Return to India | The four players who returned home after the one-day series were Jacob Martin, Yuvraj Singh, Harvinder Singh and Reetinder Singh Sodhi. The Test team departed from Johannesburg on Thursday evening 29 November 2001 and arrived in Mumbai on 30 November. Ganguly said he was surprised that the selectors did not consult him over the selection of the team for the forthcoming Mohali Test against England, which included five new bowlers and Sehwag | | |
| Finances | | | |
| Published accounts of the tour | | | |