Tour of South Africa 1996-97        Captain: Sachin Tendulkar

India's 36th Test tour

Second Test-playing tour of  South Africa by India

 (December 1996 -

           February 1997)

India played its first ‘back-to-back’ Test series with three Test matches against South Africa in India followed by three more on South African soil. India won the first series 2-1 on their own pitches, but never adjusted to the conditions in South Africa, and lost 2-0.

There were disagreements about the tour group’s batting selection, with Jadeja, Manjrekar, Sidhu and Kambli left at home, the last two for disciplinary reasons. This left India without a reliable pair of openers. Commentators spotted a malaise about the tour party (Zimbabwe's coach saying “I have yet to see such a jaded, dispirited side"). Tendulkar was too easy-going as skipper while Madan Lal was too severe as coach and the physiotherapist not up to keeping the players fit. More than this, the side was worn down by extensive travelling and the relentless schedule.

Two down by the time of the third Test, the tensions grew as their chances of seizing the final Test were stolen away by excessive delays for bad light. South Africa held out for an exciting draw with only two wickets left standing. Ganguly and Dharmani were fined a quarter of their match fees for reacting to an appeal while Azharuddin was let off  after a "severe  warning" from the match referee.

Other Indian tours

Previous tour

England 1996

Next tour

West Indies 1996-97

Next South African tour

2001-02

Members of the Test tour  party (16)

Opening batsmen: Woorkeri Raman, Vikram Rathore

Middle-order batsmen: Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Mohammad Azharuddin, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Pankaj Dharmani

Wicket-keepers: Nayan Mongia, Saba Karim

Spinners: Anil Kumble, Venkatapathy Raju

Fast bowlers: Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Dodda Ganesh, David Johnson

Representation of teams:  

Ba - Baroda (1)

Bn  -  Bengal (2)

Hd - Hyderabad (3)

K -   Karnataka (6)

Mb -  Mumbai (1)

Pj -  Punjab (2)

TN - Tamil Nadu (1) 

Average age of  team at time of first Test match

(26 December 1996) :

26 yrs  4 months

ODI  member of the Standard Bank Triangular one-day squad.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Azharuddin 75,  Tendulkar 45,  Kumble 30,  Raju 24,  Srinath 24,  Mongia 17,  Raman 9,  Prasad 7,  Dravid 6,  Ganguly 5,  Rathore 4,  Laxman 2,  Johnson 1,  Ganesh 0,  Karim 0, Dharmani 0.

Team Officials

Administrative manager Sunil Dev, secretary of the Delhi District Cricket Association, was also the  manager of the Indian side that toured South Africa under Mohammad Azharuddin in 1993

Selectors

Ramakant Desai (chairman), Sambaran Bannerjee, M Pandove, K M Rungta, and Shivlal Yadav.

Selection

Unavailable: Kambli did not win consideration from the selectors who had dropped him for 'disciplinary reasons' after the World Cup last March. Nor did they consider Navjot Singh Sidhu who was suspended by the BCCI for 90 days in September for leaving mid-way through last summer's English tour.

Tour Party Announced :

The selectors included 3 wicket keepers; Desai justified the selection by claiming that Dharmani had been picked as a batsman.

Not selected : AdayJadeja,  Sunil Joshi,  Wasim Jaffer, Sanjay Manjrekar and pace bowler Abey Kuruvilla.

One-day squad announced:  12 January 1997.

S A Ankola (Mb), Ajay Jadeja (Hy), Sunil Joshi (K) and Robin Singh (TN) were brought in for the one-day internationals while Dharmani, Johnson, Raju and Raman would go home.

Time between selection and departure from India

  x days

 (announced - depart Ind)

Travel

The team flew from Bombay.  Arrival 19 December 1996 and went to Port Elizabeth for their first match

To Zimbabwe in February for two one-day internationals (played 13 and 15 Feb)

Time spent in South Africa      x days

(19 December - depart Host)

On-tour selection committee

Reinforcements

Dharmani was retained for the one-day internationals because Laxman returned to India with a broken finger.

Fixtures/Results

The match against Natal was an extra because the Test ended early and the players wanted more practice.  The ODI Final needed to be restaged after it had been interrupted by rain.

Dravid played in every match in South Africa. Dharmani and Raju played in only 4 side matches

� not first-class

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Time spent in South Africa before First Test:

 7 days

(19 - 26  December)

Test appearances on tour

3 -  Azharuddin,  Dravid,  Ganguly,  Kumble,  Mongia,  Prasad,  Srinath,  Tendulkar.

2 -  Ganesh,  Laxman,  Raman, Rathore.

1 -  Johnson.

0 -  Dharmani,  Karim,  Raju.

Highlights

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Tour Summary

Return to India

Dharmani, Johnson, Raju and Raman returned after the Test series. V V S Laxman also returned early  from the South African tour with a fractured finger

The Indian team arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday 19 February, after their three-month tour of South Africa and a brief stopover in Zimbabwe. They had flown back from Harare where they left on ……

The team was due to go to Bermuda to play some exhibition games but these were postponed to the end of the next West indies tour to allow the players ten days at home before flying out to the Caribbean.

Time away from India

  x days   (depart Ind to 19 February)

Finances