Tour of Pakistan 2003-04        Captain: Sourav Ganguly

India's 51st Test tour

(March - April 2004)

Third Test-playing tour of Pakistan by India

       (previous tour1989-90)

The tour itinerary was agreed very late. And then Indian players expressed concerns about touring after a terrorist bomb exploded in Karachi and sent a three-man team to inspect security at the beginning of February. The Pakistan Board which stood to lose millions said it would seek compensation but in the end the tour progressed peacefully enough after being delayed by one week

Other Indian tours

Previous tour

Australia 2003-04

Next tour

Bangladesh 2004-05

Next Pakistan tour

2005-06

Members of the Test tour party (15 + 2)

Opening batsmen: Akash Chopra, Virender Sehwag.

Middle-order batsmen: Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh.

Wicket-keepers: Parthiv Patel

Spinners: Murali Kartik, Anil Kumble, Ramesh Powar.

Fast bowlers:Ajit Agarkar, Irfan Pathan, Lakshmipathy Balaji Zaheer Khan  (replaced by Asish Nehra)

Md. Kaif

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Zonal representation

 Duleep Trophy teams

C: Central (1), E: East (3), N: North (2), S: South (5), W: West (5)

 Ranji Trophy teams

Ba - Baroda (3)

Bn  - Bengal (1)

D   - Delhi (2)

Gj -  Gujarat (1)

H   - Hyderabad (1)

K   - Karnataka (2)

Mb - Mumbai (2)

Pj   - Punjab (1)

Rly - Railways (1)

TN  - Tamil Nadu (1)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(28 March 2004) :

 26 yrs  5 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Tendulkar 111,  Dravid 75,  Ganguly 72,  Zaheer Khan 28,  Kumble  81,  Laxman 50,  Agarkar 20,  Sehwag 20,  Nehra 16,  Patel 13,  Chopra 6,  Mohammad Kaif  4,  Kartik 4,  Balaji 2,  Pathan 2,  Yuvraj Singh 1, Powar 0

Tour Officials

Kapil Dev was appointed bowling consultant on 1 March but did not accompany the side to India

Selectors

S.M.H.Kirmani (chairman),  Kirti Azad,  Pranab Roy,  Kiran More,  Sanjay Jagdale.

Selection

The selectors met in Kolkata on 1 March, two days ahead of schedule to allow time for a preparation camp before the tour.

Unavailable: Harbhajan Singh (surgery on hand). Zaheer Khan overcame his hamstring injury.

Kumble (shoulder injury) and Agarkar (shin) were unfit for the ODI series.

One-day team announced :  1 March 2004.  H.K.Badani, seamer Amit Bhandari and Mohammad Kaif were selected for the 15-member team for the one-day series. Nehra was required to play in the Duleep Trophy final at Mohali to prove his fitness for the one-day squad

Agarkar, Chopra, Kumble were chosen for the Test matches only.

Test Tour Party Announced : Monday 22 March 2003

Only Tendulkar had played a Test on Pakistani soil before.

Time between selection and departure from India

  9 days

 (1 March - 10 March)

Travel

New Delhi  Q   Lahore

On Sunday 7 March the players assembled for a practice match and two-day conditioning camp at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata, before leaving for New Delhi. The squad was given a briefing by the Ministry of Home and External Affairs, before meeting Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who presented team members with an autographed bat.

On 10 March the team flew from Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, by a special Indian Airlines flight and flew into the eastern city of Lahore at 1:47 pm  “The players did not arrive at the appointed hour. Their takeoff had been pegged back by thirty minutes. This was a ruse, to throw off any time-activated bombs,” wrote Rahul Bhattacharya.

in Lahore where they were greeted by the Nazim of Lahore, Mian Amir Mehmood, the fifteen-man team were whisked out of the departure lounge while the fans expected them at the arrivals lounge.

Kumble and Agarkar joined up with the Test squad at the end of March in Multan.

Time spent in Pakistan

   38 days

(10 March - 17 April)

On-tour selection committee

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

Reinforcements

Amit Bhandari (25, RFM)  replaced Ashish Nehra (finger and ankle injuries) for the remainder of the one-day series.  Nehra then returned to Pakistan, flying back to Lahore on 2 April and came under consideration for the 2nd Test owing to the unfitness of Zaheer Khan (hamstring) who returned home on 5 April.

Mohammad Kaif  was brought in to the Test team as cover for Sourav Ganguly, who returned to Kolkata on 1 April for specialist treatment to his back.

Fixtures/Results

† not first-class

§  one-day international

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Time spent in Pakistan before First Test:

 18 days

(10 March - 28 March)

Test appearances on tour

3 -   Balaji,  Dravid,  Kumble,  Laxman,  Patel,  Pathan,  Sehwag,  Tendulkar,  Yuvraj Singh.

2 -   Chopra.

1 -   Agarkar,  Ganguly,  Nehra,  Zaheer Khan.

0 -   Kaif,  Kartik,  Powar.

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x other match 

∙  played for opposition

W won  L lost  D drawn   T  tied

N no result   A abandoned  

u unknown result

The opening tour match was 12-a-side

Highlights

•    Sehwag scored 309 at Multan, at the time India’s highest score by an individual batsman; it is bettered only by Sehwag’s own score of 319 at Chennai in 2007-08.  309 was India’s highest individual score made abroad.

•    With Tendulkar (194*), Sehwag added 336 in an Indian record 3rd wicket stand at Multan.

•    Pakistan were made to follow-on in the first Test and Kumble bowled them out with 6-72

•    Yuvraj Singh scored 112 at Lahore and added 117 for the 8th wicket with Pathan (49)

•    Rahul Dravid’s innings of 270 dominated the final Test at Rawalpindi; he shared in three century partnerships and India totalled 600 all out.

Tour Summary

Return to India

Islamabad  Q   New Delhi

The Indian team left Islamabad Airport and flew to Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, where they arrived on Saturday evening 17 April 2004 welcomed by thousands of fans celebrating their win over Pakistan.

Time away from India  38 days  (10 March to 17 April)

Finances

Published accounts of the tour

“Pundits from Pakistan”    by Rahul Bhattacharya (Picador)

Postscript