Tour of New Zealand 1998-99        Captain: Mohammad Azharuddin
	Fortieth Test tour   Sixth Test-playing tour of New Zealand by India      (December 1998  -          January 1999)	The Indian selectors reinstated Harbhajan Singh when the bowler was cleared of bowling with an illegal action a by former England spinner Fred Titmus during a two-day visit to London. The First Test was abandoned without a ball bowled, and an one-day match arranged instead. The Indians’ return from New Zealand was overshadowed by heavy security after the Shiv Sena had ransacked the cricket board’s offices in Mumbai and threatened further disruption in protest at the forthcoming Pakistan tour of India.	Other Indian tours   Previous tour Zimbabwe 1998-99   Next tour Asian Test Championship 1999   Next tour of New Zealand 2002-03
	Members of the Test tour  party (15)       Opening batsmen: Ajay Jadeja, VVS Laxman and Navjot Sidhu Middle-order batsmen: Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar. Wicket-keeper: Nayan Mongia. Spin bowlers: Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Sunil Joshi Fast bowlers: Debasish Mohanty, Venkatesh Prasad, Javagal Srinath, Robin Singh junior.	Mohammad Azharuddin Hd 35 RHB   captain ODI   R S Dravid K 25 RHB    reserve WK ODI   S C Ganguly Bn 26 LHB   (RM) ODI   Harbhajan Singh Pj 18 OB     A D Jadeja Hy 27 RHB  opener   vice-captain ODI   S B Joshi K 28 SLA ODI   A Kumble K 28 LBG ODI   V V S Laxman Hd 24 RHB ODI   D S Mohanty Os 22 RFM ODI   N R Mongia Ba 29 WK ODI   B K V Prasad K 29 RFM ODI   N S Sidhu Pj 35 RHB  opener     R Singh jnr(born 1970) D 28 RMF     J Srinath K 29 RFM ODI   S R Tendulkar Mb 25 RHB ODI   In one-day squad only:     N Chopra(D) ODI       H Kanitkar (Mh) ODI       R R Singh (Rabindra - born 1963) ODI	Representation of teams    Ba -  Baroda (1) Bn  -  Bengal (1) D  -  Delhi (1) Hd - Hyderabad (2) Hy -  Haryana (1) K -   Karnataka (5) Mb  -  Mumbai (1) Os -  Orissa (1) Pj -  Punjab (2)             Average age of  team at time of first Test match (18 December 1998) : 27 yrs  2 months
	Test Appearances made before the tour	Azharuddin 92,  Tendulkar 62,  Sidhu 49,  Kumble 47,  Mongia 34,  Srinath 33,  Dravid 23,  Ganguly 21, Prasad 18,  Jadeja 11,  Laxman 10,   Joshi 9,  Harbhajan Singh 2,  Mohanty 2,  Robin Singh jr 0.
	Team Officials	Saif D A Drabu Manager  Anshuman  Gaekwad Coach  Andrew Kokinos Physiotherapist  Ravinder Chadha Doctor    Saif Drabu was founder of Jammu and Kashmir Cricket.
	Selectors	Ajit Wadekar (chairman),  Madan Lal,  Ashok Malhotra,  Anil Deshpande,  Shivlal Yadav
	Selection	Tour Party Announced:  The team was announced in Mumbai on 17 November 1998. The selectors ignored coach Gaekwad's request for a second wicket-keeper, and Wadekar said that in an emergency Dravid would don the pads. Not selected:  Nikhil Chopra, Gagan Khoda, Venkatapathy Raju, Nilesh Kulkarni, Rahul Sanghvi, Rohan Gavaskar and Jatin Paranjpe had all been considered during the meeting. Withdrawal:  Hours before the team's departure Ajit Agarkar was ruled out because of a stress fracture of his left leg, and needed to  rest it for 6 weeks. Robin Singh jnr was selected in his place. One-day team announced:  30 December 1998. Robin (Rabindra) Singh sr, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Nikhil Chopra would bolster the Indian one-day team replacing opener Navjot Singh Sidhu, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and medium-pacer Robin Singh jr.	Time between selection and departure from India   16 days  (17 November - 3 December)
	Travel	The team had a four-day preparation camp in Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, starting on 28 November. Hours before the team's departure for New Zealand, the Indian team suffered a blow as the fast bowler Ajit Agarkar was ruled out because of a stress fracture of his left leg. The team took off from Mumbai at midnight on 3 December and flew via Hong Kong to New Zealand. After an overnight delay at Auckland, they arrived in Napier on 5 December.	Time spent in New Zealand      47 days (4 December - 20 January)
	On-tour selection committee	Mohammad Azharuddin (captain),  Ajay Jadeja (vice-captain),  Anshuman Gaekwad (coach)
	Reinforcements	For the one-day matches:  R R Singh snr,  H H Kanitkar,  N  Chopra  for Robin Singh jnr, N S Sidhu, and Harbhajan Singh.
	Fixtures/Results	Napier Central Districts Lost 7 w Wellington Wellington Won 8 w DUNEDIN  NEW ZEALAND  First Test ABANDONED † Dunedin New Zealand XI Lost 66 r WELLINGTON  NEW ZEALAND  Second Test LOST 4w HAMILTON  NEW ZEALAND  Third Test DRAWN § Taupo New Zealand (1st ODI) Lost 5 w §  Napier New Zealand (2nd ODI) Won 2 w §  Wellington New Zealand (3rd ODI) No result §  Auckland New Zealand (4th ODI) Won 5 w §  Christchurch New Zealand (5th ODI) Lost 70 r	† not first-class §  one-day international   Time spent in New Zealand before First Test:  14 days (4 December - 18 December)
	Test appearances on tour	2 -  Azharuddin,  Dravid,  Ganguly,  Jadeja,  Kumble,  Mongia,  Prasad,  Sidhu,  Srinath, Tendulkar 1 -  Harbhajan Singh,  Robin Singh. 0 -  Joshi,  Laxman, Mohanty.
	Highlights	•    Mohammad Azharuddin’s 103 not out at Wellington added 83 with Tendulkar to hold up New Zealand. •    Sachin Tendulkar then scored a century himself (113) in the 2nd innings at Wellington. •    Srinath took 5-95 at Hamilton including two wickets in the first over. •    Rahul Dravid scored a century in each innings at Hamilton (190 and 103*), the third Indian to do so. •    Anil Kumble was India’s main wicket-taker in the series with 9 victims at a cost of 341 runs (av 37.88).
	Tour Summary	P W L D Aban Test Matches   2 0 1 1 1 Other first-class matches   2 1 1 0 - ϯ Minor matches   1 0 1 0 - § One-day internationals   5 2 2 1 - All Matches 10 3 5 1 -
	Return to India	Vice-captain Ajay Jadeja along with Harbhajan Singh and Robin Singh jr (of Delhi) returned home early to make way for three specialists for the one-dayers. At the end of the one-day series, the team left New Zealand from Christchurch, flying to Hong Kong and then to Thailand.  The original plans, to arrive at Mumbai on Thursday evening 21 January, were revised and kept a closely guarded secret in view of threats made by Shiv Sena against the cricketers. Their flight from Bangkok arrived at Dum Dum Airport, Calcutta at 4:30 pm on 21 January 1999 amid high security. Army personnel manned all the entry and exit gates of the international terminal. So serious was the state government about the players' security that the commissioner of police cancelled a trip to Delhi for a high level meeting to supervise the whole affair. While most players were able to make transit quite easily to their connecting airports, Mumbai and Delhi, the Karnataka players were taken to a city hotel to spend the night before catching an early flight to Bangalore next day. The Indian skipper Azharuddin arrived in Mumbai amid more tight security along with Sachin Tendulkar, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Nayan Mongia and coach Anshuman Gaekwad. Mongia and Gaekwad later left for Vadodara by train while Kanitkar took a flight to Pune next morning.	Time away from India   49 days   (3 December to 21 January 1999)

Powered by Create