Test Cricket Tours - India to Australia 1991-92

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Tour of Australia 1991-92 Captain: Mohammad Azharuddin

India's 31st Test tour

Sixth Test-playing tour of Australia by India

(November 1991 -

February 1992))

Despite this being a four-month tour, India's 4-0 defeat in the Test matches highlighted the tourists' ha inadequate preparation for the series. On the insistence of their own Board, India were allowed only one first-class match before the opening Test. Forcing the players to squeeze in a short series against the South Africans beforehand was the problem.

The Indians also lost 2-0 in the finals of the World Series Cup.

At the end of the tour the Indians remained in Australia for the 1992 World Cup, in which they were knocked out before the semi-final stage. Wilting under pressure when batting, the bowlers rarely hadmuch to bowl at. Poor fielding and lack of fitness also came in for criticism but criss-crossing Australia for 4½ months hardly helped. They were made to remain in Australia instead of taking a two-week break from cricket at home, and rather than spend that time on the Australian beaches or playing golf they were made to play pointless ‘warm-up’ matches. Azharuddin described it as his longest and hardest tour.

It was the first Test series played under the ICC Code of Conduct and overseen by a match referee.

Other Indian tours

Previous tour

England 1990

Next tour

Zimbabwe & South Africa 1992-93

Next tour of Australia

1999-2000

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Members of the Test tour party (16)

Opening batsmen: Ravi Shastri, Kris Srikkanth

Middle-order batsmen: Dilip Vengsarkar, Mohammad Azharuddin, Sourav Ganguly, Sanjay Manjrekar, Praveen Amre,

Wicket-keepers: Kiran More, Chandrakant Pandit

Spinners: Ravi Shastri, Venkatapathy Raju, Narendra Hirwani

Fast bowlers: Javagal Srinath, Kapil Dev, Subroto Banerjee, Manoj Prabhakar

P K Amre	Bn	23	RHB	WC
Mohammad Azharuddin	Hd	28	RHB captain	WC
S T Banerjee	Bn	22	RFM	WC
S C Ganguly	Bn	19	LHB
N D Hirwani	Mh	23	LBG
Kapil Dev	Hy	32	RFM RHB	WC
S V Manjrekar	B	26	RHB	WC
K S More	Ba	29	WK	WC
C S Pandit	B	30	RHB reserve WK
M Prabhakar	B	28	RFM	WC
S L V Raju	Hd	22	SLA	WC
R J Shastri	B	29	RHB opener SLA vice-captain	WC
K Srikkanth	TN	31	RHB opener	WC
J Srinath	K	22	RFM	WC
S R Tendulkar	B	18	RHB	WC
D B Vengsarkar	B	35	RHB
Members of the World Cup squad			A D Jadeja	WC
			V Kambli	WC

Representation of teams:

Bn - Bengal (3)

B - Bombay (6)

Hy - Haryana (1)

Hd - Hyderabad (2)

K - Karnataka (1)

Mh – Maharashtra (1)

TN - Tamil Nadu (2)

Average age of team at time of first Test match

(29 November 1991) :

26 yrs 5 months

WC member of the squad of 14 for World Cup.

Test Appearances made before the tour

Vengsarkar 111, Kapil Dev 110, Shastri 73, Azharuddin 41, Srikkanth 39, More 35, Manjrekar 16, Hirwani 14, Prabhakar 13, Tendulkar 11, Pandit 3, Raju 3, Amre 0, S T Banerjee 0, Ganguly 0, Srinath 0

Team Officials

Ranbhir Singh Mahendra	Tour Manager
Abbas Ali Baig	Cricket Manager
Dr Ali Irani	Physiotherapist

Selectors

Naren Tamhane (chairman), Rusi Jeejeebhoy, Ravinder Chadha, S Venkataraghaven, Anand Shukla

Captain Azharuddin, coach Abbas Ali Baig and manager Ranbhir Singh were also present at the meeting, which lasted 150 minutes.

Selection

Tour Party Announced: Sunday 3 November 1991.

Srikkanth and Vengsarkar were not among the 22 probables.

Not selected: Vinod Kambli (in order to include another bowler), W V Raman, Anil Kumble.

Withdrawal: Navjot Singh Sidhu had to pull out of the tour, owing to injury at Gwalior in one of the matches against South Africa.

In place of Sidhu, an opening batsman, the team management requested Hirwani (a leg-spinner), and this was approved by BCCI President Madhavrao Scindia without consulting the selectors.

World Cup squad announced:

Time between selection and departure from India

12 days

(3 - 15 November)

Travel

The departure date could not be fixed until the hurriedly-arranged South African visit was confirmed. Having just played an ODI against South Africa on 14 November, the team left New Delhi early the next morning, 15 November. They were bid farewell at the airport by the Australian High Commissioner David Evans and Mr C Nagaraj, the BCCI secretary.

They flew by way of Singapore, arriving in Perth early on 16 November 1991.

Time spent in Australia

121 days

(16 November - 16 March)

On-tour selection committee

Ranbhir Singh (manager), Abbas Ali Baig (coach), Mohammad Azharuddin (captain), Ravi Shastri (vice-captain)

Reinforcements

N S Sidhi

Pj

35

RHB opener

Sidhu was flown in when Shastri had a knee injury that prevented him from playing in the last two Tests. He remained with the World Cup side but played in only one of the warm-up matches

Jadeja and Kambli were added to the team as part of the World Cup squad of fourteen.

Fixtures/Results

a	† Lilac Hill, Perth	Cricket Board Chairman's XI	Lost 29 r
b	† W.A.C.A., Perth	Western Australia (d/n)	Lost 9 w
c	† Wagga Wagga	New South Wales Country XI	Won 8 w
d	Lismore	New South Wales	Lost inns 8 r
e	BRISBANE	AUSTRALIA First Test	LOST 10 w
f	§ Perth	West Indies (1st ODI)	Tied
g	§ Perth	Australia (2nd ODI)	Won 107 r
h	§ Hobart	Australia (3rd ODI)	Lost 8 w
i	§ Adelaide	West Indies (4th ODI)	Won 10 r
j	§ Adelaide	Australia (5th ODI)	Lost 6 w
k	† Canberra	Prime Minister's XI	Lost 75 r
l	Brisbane	Queensland	Won 39 r
m	MELBOURNE	AUSTRALIA Second Test	LOST 8 w
n	SYDNEY	AUSTRALIA Third Test	DRAWN
o	§ Brisbane	West Indies (6th ODI)	Lost 6 w
p	§ Sydney	Australia (7th ODI)	Lost 9 w
q	§ Melbourne	West Indies (8th ODI)	Won 5 w
r	§ Melbourne	Australia (1st ODI Final)	Lost 88 r
s	§ Sydney	Australia (2nd ODI Final	Lost 6 r
t	ADELAIDE	AUSTRALIA Fourth Test	LOST 38 r
u	PERTH	AUSTRALIA Fifth Test	LOST 300 r
	World Cup warm-up matches
v	Benalla	Victoria	Lost 33 r
w	Melbourne (1)	Australian Country XI	Lost 25 r
x	Melbourne (2)	Sri Lankans	Abandoned
z	Adelaide	South Australia & Academy XI	Won 88 r
	World Cup
aa	§ Perth	England	Lost 9 r
bb	§ Mackay	Sri Lanka	No result
cc	§ Brisbane	Australia	Lost 1 r
dd	§ Sydney	Pakistan	Won 43 r
ee	§ Hamilton	Zimbabwe	Won 55 r
ff	§ Wellington	West Indies	Lost 5 w
gg	§ Dunedin	New Zealand	Lost 4 w
hh	§ Adelaide	South Africa	Lost 6 w

(1) Lake Oval, (2) Toorak Park

§ one-day international

† not first-class

Time spent in Australia before First Test:

13 days

(16 November - 29 November)

Test appearances on tour

5 - Azharuddin, Kapil Dev, Manjrekar, Prabhakar, Srinath, Tendulkar, Vengsarkar.

4 - Raju, Srikkanth

3 - More, Shastri, Sidhu

2 - Pandit

1 - Banerjee

0 - Amre, Ganguly, Hirwani.

Highlights

- Sachin Tendulkar was outstanding, scoring two Test centuries: 148* at Sydney and 114 at Perth

- The highest scorer for India was Ravi Shastri (206 at Sydney)

- Kapil Dev had his most successful series with the ball outside India taking 25 wickets.

- Kapil Dev also reached the 400 Test wicket landmark previously achieved only by Sir Richard Hadlee.

- Kris Srikkanth took five catches in the innings at Perth.

Tour Summary

Australia tour	P	W	L	D/NR	T	Aban
Test Matches	5	0	4	1	0	-
Other first-class matches	2	1	1	0	0	-
ϯ Minor matches	4	1	3	0	0	-
§ One-day internationals	10	3	6	0	1	-
All Matches	21	5	14	1	1	-
World Cup	P	W	L	NR	T	Ab
ϯ World Cup warm-up matches	4	1	2	-	-	1
§ World Cup one-day internationals	8	2	5	1	0	-
All matches including World Cup	33	8	21	2	1	1

Return to India

The last day of the final Test was 5 February 1992. Vengsarkar, the only one of the party of 17 not to play a match in the World Series Cup, as well as Ganguly, Pandit, Hirwani and Sidhu had to return home while their 14 team mates remained to take part in the World Cup. On his return Vengsarkar announced his retirement from first-class cricket.

On 15 March in Adelaide India failed to reach the semi-finals and dropped out of the World Cup. Members of the team flew back from Sydney on 16 March.

Azharuddin disembarked at Madras. Manjrekar, Shastri, More, Tendulkar, Banerjee, Amre, Kambli and Ali Irani arrived quietly at Sahar Airport, Bombay, to a lukewarm welcome on Thursday morning 19 March. Abbas Ali Baig arrived home next day.

Time away from India

125 days (15 November to 19 March)