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Test Cricket Tours - India to Australia 2003-04

 

 

Tour of Australia 2003-04                   Captain: Sourav Ganguly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

India's fiftieth Test tour

 

Eighth Test-playing tour of Australia by India

 

 

 

 (November 2003 -

      February 2004)

 

 

India by no means dominated the first three of this four-Test series but a handsome victory at Adelaide matched the Australian’s win at Melbourne.  This brought the teams to the New Year’s Test at Sydney on level terms (one-all) and a draw there meant they retained the Trophy named after Gavaskar and Border, on the fifth occasion for which was being played.

The series was closely-fought and entertaining and Steve Waugh suggested the growing rivalry between Australia and India could rival the Ashes, which for some years had produced one-sided cricket

Injuries hampered the Indians in the one-day matches but they nevertheless eased to the VB series finals when tiredness was a factor in causing them to lose to Australia.

 

 

Other Indian tours

 

Previous tour

New Zealand 2002-03

 

Next tour

Pakistan 2003-04

 

 

Next Australian tour

2007-08

 

 

 

 

Members of the Test tour  party (16)

 

 

 

Opening batsmen: Virender Sehwag, Akash Chopra, Sadagopan Ramesh

Middle-order batsmen: Sourav Ganguly,  Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman

Wicket-keepers: Deep Das Gupta, Parthiv Patel

Spinners: Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble

Fast bowlers:  Irfan Pathan, Laxmipathy Balaji,  Zaheer Khan,  Ajit Agarkar, Ashish Nehra

 

 

 

 

A B Agarkar

Mb

26

RFM

ODI

 

L Balaji

TN

22

RFM

ODI

 

A Chopra

D

26

RHB  opener

 

 

D Dasgupta

Bn

26

second WK

 

 

R S Dravid

K

30

RHB   WK (for ODIs)

ODI

 

S C Ganguly

Bn

31

LHB    captain

ODI

 

Harbhajan Singh

Pj

23

OB

 

 

A Kumble

K

33

LBG

ODI

 

V V S Laxman

Hd

29

RHB

ODI

 

A Nehra

D

24

LFM

ODI

 

P A Patel

Gj

18

WK

ODI

 

I K Pathan

Ba

19

LFM

ODI

 

S Ramesh

TN

28

LHB  opener

 

 

V Sehwag

D

25

RHB  opener    OB

ODI

 

S R Tendulkar

Mb

30

RHB

ODI

 

Zaheer Khan

Ba

25

LFM

(ODI)

 
 

Selected for the one-day series only:

H K Badani

ODI

 

S R Bangar

ODI

 

 

 

R S Gavaskar

ODI (r)

 

 

 

Mohammad Kaif

(ODI)

 

 

 

Yuvraj Singh

ODI

 

 

 

FLAG_India 

 

 

Representation of teams:  

  

Ba  - Baroda (2)

Bn  - Bengal (2)

D   - Delhi (3)

Gj  -  Gujarat (1)

Hd   - Hyderabad (1)

K    - Karnataka (2)

Mb - Mumbai (2)

Pj   - Punjab (1)

TN  - Tamil Nadu (2)

 

 

 

  

 

  

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(4 December 2003) :

   26 yrs  5 months

 

 

 

Test Appearances made before the tour

 

 

Tendulkar 107,  Kumble 78,  Dravid 71,  Ganguly 68,  Laxman 46,  Harbhajan 35,  Zaheer Khan 26,  Ramesh 19,  Agarkar 16,  Sehwag 16,  Nehra 13,  Patel 9,  Dasgupta 8,  Balaji 2,  Chopra 2,  Pathan 0.  

 

 

 

 

Team Officials

 

Shivlal Yadav

Tour Manager

John Wright

Coach

Andrew Leipus

Physiotherapist

G A King

Trainer

Bruce Reid 1

Bowling coach

 

1 Reid was not appointed until 30 November

 

 

 

 

 

Selectors

 

The selectors were S M Jagdale,  Pranab Roy,  Kirti Azad,  S M H Kirmani (chairman),  K S More,  John Wright and S C Ganguly (captain).

They met in Hyderabad on Saturday 15 November but had not resolved the team until 1 am on Sunday.

 

 

 

 

 

Selection

 

A 20-member list of probables for the four-Test series in Australia was announced on 13 November. Sanjay Bangar was the only notable omission.  Two days later a six-hour meeting of the selectors narrowed the probables down to sixteen.

Unavailable:  none.

Not selected :  Out of the probables, Murali Kartik, Laxmi Balaji,  Hemang Badani and Yuvraj Singh were excluded

Tour Party Announced :  16 November 2003

Withdrawn :  Avishkar M Salvi (Mb) withdrew with a strained shoulder on 18 November and was replaced by Balaji.

One-day squad announced:  28 December 2003.

Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Sanjay Bangar and Hemang Badani were chosen on 28 December to come into the tour party at the expense of Chopra, Ramesh and Dasgupta

 

 

 

Time between selection and departure from India

  5 days

 (16 - 21 November)

 

 

 

 

Travel

 

The team flew out of Chennai on Friday afternoon 21 November 2003, arriving in Adelaide on 22 November, and moving on to Melbourne on 24 November. An extra tour match against Queensland was arranged and the start of the Indians’ match against Victoria brought forward.

 

 

Time spent in Australia

   12 days

(22 November - 4 December)

 

 

 

 

On-tour selection committee

 

 

 

 

 

Reinforcements

 

The team management wanted to add Sanjay Bangar to their squad before the second Test to open the batting and bowl medium-pace but he was not called up until the one-day series.

M Kartik

Rlys

27

SLA

ODI

 

Murali Kartik was added to the Test squad and arrived on 11 December after which it was decided that Harbhajan Singh needed an operation on his finger.Harbhajan underwent surgery on his injured right index finger on 19 December.

One-day squad :  Main strike bowler, Zaheer Khan was ruled out of the ODI squad due to a left hamstring injury, but like Harbhajan remained in Australia for treatment.

Murali Kartik was retained for the one-day squad.  Rohan Gavaskar was then added as a replacement for batsman Mohammad Kaif, who was ruled out by a thumb injury. He was chosen on 4 January and left for Australia next day.

 

 

 

 

 

Fixtures/Results

 

Melbourne

Victoria

Drawn

† Brisbane

Queensland Academy

Drawn

BRISBANE

AUSTRALIA

DRAWN

ADELAIDE

AUSTRALIA

WON 4 w

Hobart

Australia A

Drawn

MELBOURNE

AUSTRALIA

LOST 9w

SYDNEY

AUSTRALIA

DRAWN

§ Melbourne

Australia  (1st ODI)

Won 18 r

§ Hobart

Zimbabwe  (2nd ODI)

Won 7 w

§ Brisbane

Australia  (3rd ODI)

Won 19r

§ Brisbane

Zimbabwe  (4th ODI)

Won  24r

§ Sydney

Australia  (5th ODI)

Won 2w

§ Adelaide

Zimbabwe  (6th ODI)

Won 3 r

† Canberra

Prime Minister's XI

Won by 1 r

§ Perth

Australia (7th ODI)

Lost 5 w

§ Perth

Zimbabwe  (8th ODI)

Won 4 w

§ Melbourne

Australia  (1st ODI Final)

Lost 7 w

§ Sydney

Australia  (2nd ODI Final)

Lost  208 r

 

 

 

 

 

† not first-class

§  one-day internationals

 

Time spent in Australia before First Test:

 12 days

(22 November - 4 December)

 

 

 

 

Test appearances on tour

 

4 -  Agarkar,  Chopra,  Dravid,  Ganguly,  Laxman,  Patel,  Sehwag, Tendulkar.

3 -  Kumble,  Nehra.

2 -  Pathan,  Zaheer Khan.

1 -  Harbhajan Singh,  Kartik.

0 -  Balaji,  Dasgupta,  Ramesh.

 

 

 

 

 

Highlights

 

    Ganguly (144) and Zaheer 5-95 were standout performances for India in the First Test at Brisbane

    Sehwag and Chopra’s opening partnerships in the series averaged 57, twice sharing in century stands (at Melbourne and Sydney).

    Dravid (233) and Laxman (148) shared a partnership of 303 at Adelaide. Dravid scored 619 runs in the series.

    Ajit Agarkar picked up his first five-wicket haul in Tests (6-41) to help win the Adelaide Test match

    Tendulkar (241*) and Laxman (178) put on 353, a fourth wicket record for India in the Sydney Test, as India piled on 705 for 7 declared.

    Kumble then took twelve wicket (8-141 and 4-138) but could not force an Indian victory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tour Summary

 

 

 P

W

L

D

Aban

Test Matches

  4

1

1

2

-

Other first-class matches

  2

0

0

2

-

ϯ Minor matches

  2

1

0

1

-

§ One-day internationals

10

5

5

0

-

All Matches

18

7

6

5

 

 

 

 

 

Return to India

 

Opening batsmen Chopra and Ramesh and wicketkeeper Deep Dasgupta returned from Australia after the Test series.

The original travel plans changed after India lost the ODI series finals 0-2 and did not have to play the third match in Brisbane. The team flew from Sydney, via Singapore, where players from Tamil Nadu boarded a flight for Chennai while the other players flew on to Hyderabad and landed at Begumpet Airport. After an overnight rest in a hotel, players left for their respective airport hubs - Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata - by morning flights on Tuesday 10 February.

 

 

 

Time away from India

  80 days   (21 November to 9 February)

 

 

 

 

Finances

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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