Tour of West Indies 2001-02       Captain: Sourav Ganguly

47th Test tour

Eighth Test-playing tour of West Indies by India

 (March - June 2002)

The Indians requested an extra match when their sole pre-Test fixture ended early but then upset their hosts by batting slowly for practice and not chasing the target they were set.

After winning the second Test at Port of Spain where India has often enjoyed success, the tour party expected to take the series against a weak West Indies side. However, they lost 2-1. They were bundled out for 102 at Bridgetown and sent to a ten wicket defeat. At Sabina Park, a venue where India have never won, they lagged 210 runs behind on first innings and inevitably went down by a wide margin of 155 runs in the final Test. 

Looking to win the one-day series to salvage some pride, the first two matches were cancelled because of rain but India won two of the next three. However, little progress was made on resolvng the matters of who should open the batting and who among the faster bowlers should take over from Srinath.

Other Indian tours

Previous tour

 South Africa 2001-02

Next tour

England 2002 

Next West Indies tour

2005-06.

Members of the Test tour  party (16)

Opening batsmen: Shiv Sundur Das, Wasim Jaffer.

Middle-order batsmen: Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Dinesh Mongia.

Wicket-keepers: Deep Dasgupta, Ajay Ratra.

All-rounder: Sanjay Bangar.

Spinners: Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble.

Fast bowlers: Ashish Nehra, Javagal Srinath, Tinu Yohannan, Zaheer Khan.

Representation of teams:  

Ba  - Baroda (1)

Bn  - Bengal (2)

D   - Delhi (1)

H   - Hyderabad (1)

Hy  - Haryana (1)

K    - Karnataka (3)

Ke  - Kerala (1)

Mb - Mumbai (2)

Os  - Orissa (1)

Pj   - Punjab (2)

Rly - Railways (1)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(11 April 2002) :

26  yrs 1month

Test Appearances made before the tour

Tendulkar 92,  Kumble 68,  Srinath 59,  Dravid 55,  Ganguly 53,  Laxman 30,  Harbhajan Singh 22,  Das 18,  Zaheer Khan 11,  Dasgupta 7,  Nehra 4,  Bangar  3,  Sarandeep Singh 2,  Wasim Jaffer 2,  Yohannan 2,   Mongia 0,  Ratra 0.

Team Officials

Selectors

The chairman Chandu Borde and his selection committee met in Mumbai :  Sanjay Jagdale, Ashok Malhotra, Shivlal Yadav and Kiran More.

Selection

Captain Sourav Ganguly and coach John Wright were informed about the selectors' decisions and both expressed their satisfaction.

Unavailable  Virender Sehwag (shoulder injured while fielding in 2nd Test against Zimbabwe) although Sehwag's doctor Yash Gulati said the batsman had shown "excellent progress" and would definitely be fit.

Tour Party Announced :  21 March 2002.

Mongia had to stand down from the A team captaincy and Jacob Martin took over as captain.

Not Selected : Sairaj Bahutule, Nayan Mongia, Murali Kartik.

The team for the one-day international series was announced later on 15 May.

Srinath asked to be excused from the ODI series because of tiredness after the Test series.

Time between selection and departure from India

  10 days

 (21 March - 31 March)

Travel

The Indians left Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport on 31 March 2002 without captain Sourav Ganguly, who requested to delay his departure by a couple of days as his wife was unwell.

John Wright joined the squad when it stoped in London on the way to the Caribbean.

There was a three-hour stopover at Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados on their way to Guyana. A massive security presence greeted the Indian cricket team upon their arrival in Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Guyana, on Easter Monday night, 1 April 2002

Ganguly left Kolkata on Tuesday 2 April and joined the side on Wednesday night.

Five players joined the team for the one day series, leaving for the Caribbean from New Delhi on May 19 and arriving in Kingston on 20 May.

Time spent in West Indies      65 days

(1 April - 4 June)

On-tour selection committee

Sourav Ganguly (captain),  Rahul Dravid  (vice-captain),   John Wright  (coach).

Reinforcements

Sarandeep Singh was called up for Harbhajan Singh who was flown to Trinidad for investigations to his injured shoulder.  Sarandeep flew out to London late on 8 April from Delhi and reached Georgetown next day via Barbados, and was retained after the first Test match when Harbhajan returned.

A ball from Merv Dillon to Kumble in the 4th Test broke his jaw and he left the tour from Antigua on 12 May, arriving home in Bangalore on 14 May.

For the one-day matches A B Agarkar (Mb), Mohammad Kaif (UP), M Kartik (Rly), V Sehwag (D) and Yuvraj Singh (Pj) were added to the tour party. They attended a National Cricket Academy (NCA) training camp in Bangalore.

Meanwhile Bangar, Das, Dasgupta, Kumble, Sarandeep Singh, Srinath and Wasim Jaffer were no longer required for the tour and went home.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

§  one-day international

Time spent in West Indies before First Test:

 10 days

(1 - 11 April)

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Test appearances on tour

5  -  Das,  Dravid,  Ganguly,  Laxman,  Srinath, Tendulkar,  Zaheer.

4  -  Nehra,  Ratra

3  -  Harbhajan,  Wasim Jaffer,

2  -  Bangar,  Kumble

1  -  Dasgupta,  Sarandeep Singh

0  -  Mongia,  Yohannan.

Highlights

•    India achieved its first victory in the Caribbean for 26 years in the second Test at Port of Spain.

•    Kumble continued to bowl with his broken jaw strapped up at St John's and dismissed Lara

•    All eleven members of the Indian side at St John’s were given a bowl as the match petered into a draw.

•    Laxman and Dravid both scored 400 runs in the series

•    Harbhajan Singh took 5-138, his first five wicket haul in Test matches, and 3-42 in the 5th Test at Kingston.

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Tour Summary

Return to India

Kumble and Sarandeep Singh returned home early. Kumble arrived back in Bangalore on 15 May for the operation on his broken jaw. Sarandeep flew to Sri Lanka and joined the India `A' team there

Bangar, Das, Dasgupta, Srinath and Wasim Jaffer were not required for the ODI series and returned home after the fifth Test.

The main team returned home on the night of 4 June 2002, flying from Trinidad to Mumbai. Arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday 5 June.

The Indian cricketers then had only 12 days to rest before flying to London on June 18 for their England tour.

Time away from India

  67 days   (31 March to 5 June)

Finances