Tour of Zimbabwe 1998-99        Captain: Mohammad Azharuddin

India’s 39th Test tour

(September - October 1998)

Second Test-playing tour of  Ziimbabwe by India

       (previous tour 1992-93)

Again, there was no inaugural Test series between India and Zimbabwe. Previously, they had played only one-off Test matches in each country, in 1992 and 1993, and would do so again on this tour. 

The playing programme remained over-crowded. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) sent separate teams to the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur (led by Ajay Jadeja) and to the Sahara Cup in Toronto (led by Azharuddin), which were scheduled simultaneously, just before this tour.

Tendulkar had been stripped of the captaincy in January and Azharuddin brought back.

Ajit Wadekar, new chairman of the national selectors, said he was not unduly perturbed by the fact that his first exercise in team selection, as chairman, had resulted in the defeat against Zimbabwe.

Other Indian tours

Previous tour

Sri Lanka 1997

Next tour

New Zealand 1998-99

Next tour of Zimbabwe

2000-01

Members of the Test tour party (14)

Opening batsmen:Navjot Singh Sidhu, Ajay Jadeja

Middle-order batsmen: Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, Mohammad Azharuddin

Wicket-keeper:Nayan Mongia

Spinners: Anil Kumble Harbhajan Singh, Rahul Sanghvi

Fast bowlers:Javagal Srinath, Debasis Mohanty, Robin Singh senior, Ajit Agarkar

Zonal representation

 Duleep Trophy teams

C: Central (), E: East (), N: North (), S: South (), W: West ()

 Ranji Trophy teams

Ba - Baroda (1)

Bn  -  Bengal (1)

D -   Delhi (2)

Hd - Hyderabad (2)

Hy -  Haryana (2)

K -   Karnataka (2)

MP - Madhya Pradesh (1)

Mb  - Mumbai

Os -  Orissa

Pj -  Punjab (2)

Rj -  Rajasthan (1)

TN - Tamil Nadu (1)

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(7 October 1998) :

 27 yrs  2  months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Azharuddin 91,  Tendulkar 61,  Sidhu 48,  Kum,ble 46,  Mongia 33,  Srinath 32,  Dravid 22,  Ganguly 20,  Jadeja 11, Mohanty 2,  Harbhajan 1,  Agarkar 0,  RR Singh 0,  Sanghvi 0.

Tour Officials

Melbourne-based Andrew Kokinos was appointed physical fitness trainer in February 1998 on the recommendation of Bob Simpson, who was technical expert supporting the coach.

Selectors

Kishen Rungta (chairman, Central Zone),  A.L.Wadekar (West Zone),  S.Yadav (South),  Mohinder Pandove (North),  Sambaran Bannerjee (East).  The national selectors met in Delhi to choose the side, the last act of this committee which was replaced on 23 September

Selection

Unavailable:  none

Tour Party Announced :  18 September 1998.

The secretary of B C C I, Mr J Y Lele, named the 14-member squad,

Not included:  V Prasad,  S B Joshi.

Uncapped Agarkar took the place of Prasad.

Time between selection and departure from India    5 days

 (18 - 23 September

Travel

Mumbai  Q   Johannesbrg  Q  Harare

The Indian team arrived in Mumbai from the Sahara Cup tournament in Toronto late on Tuesday night, and left again for Harare early on Thursday morning 23 September 1998.

They took a South African Airways flight from Mumbai taking off at 3 am, and then waited in transit at Johannesburg airport for five hours, arriving in Bulawayo on the evening of 24 September, though without Robin Singh who was delayed further after his baggage was lost.

Time spent in Zimbabwe      x days

(24 September - depart Host)

On-tour selection committee

-

Reinforcements

The chairman of selectors said the next committee would pick any extra players for the Test match after the one-day series, but there were no replacements.

Fixtures/Results

Brendan Taylor’s website http://www.brmtaylor.com/zimbabwe/venues.html reports that Harare’s  Sunrise Sports Club ground has now fallen into disrepair

† not first-class

§one-day international

.

Time spent in Zimbabwe before First Test:

 x days

(24 September - 1st Test)

Test appearances on tour

1 -   Agarkar,  Azharuddin,  Dravid,  Ganguly,  Harbhajan Singh,  Kumble,  Mongia,  Sidhu,  Robin Singh,  Srinath, Tendulkar.

0 -  Jadeja,  Mohanty,  Sanghvi.

Match appearances

T  Test match

o  one-day international 

x other match 

∙  played for opposition

W won  L lost  D drawn  

N no result   A abandoned  

u unknown result

Highlights

•    Rahul Dravid scored A century (118) in the Test match at Harare.

•    India’s spinners took twelve of the wickets to fall - Kumble 7 and Harbhajan 5 -

•   

•   

Tour Summary

Return to India

Harare  Q   Mumbai

Arrived in Mumbai from Harare on Tuesday morning Oct 13 1998.

Azharuddin and Navjot Singh Sidhu left for their respective home destinations, but most of the cricketers stayed back to take a flight to Ahmedabad for the Challenger Trophy

Time away from India

  x days   (depart Ind to 13 October)