Test Cricket Tours - India to New Zealand 1998-99

 

 

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 a 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)