Tour of Australia 1999-00Captain: Sachin Tendulkar
India's 42nd Test Tour
Seventh Test-playing tour of Australia by India
(November 1999 -
February 2000)
the selectors did not considerformer Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin anymore and he was excluded from the Indian team for Australia. When the selectors said they would would consider him for the one-day series, the on-tour selectors did not want him.
BCCI secretary Jaywant Lele was quoted by website Rediff but denied saying that the Indian team would be blanked 0-3 by Australia in the Tests.However, the series turned out to be a 0-3 whitewash,
Although V V S Laxman’s magnificent strokeplay scoring 167 at the end of the series impressed, the Indian batting always struggled apart from Sachin Tendulkar who was chosen as Man of the Series. He scored runs despite being the victim of several close umpiring decisions. The Indians also suffered when Tendulkar requested sawdust to be put on the slippery spots behind the wickets which the umpires refused, and Prasad was fined for exuberant wicket celebration of a wicket while McGrath and Ponting’s outbursts were overlooked.
Announced on 18 November that Dr Bhargawa of the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association was appointed manager.
Selectors
C G Borde (West Zone - Chairman), T A Sekhar (South), Anil Deshpande (Central), Ashok Malhotra (East) and Madan Lal (North).
Selection
Tour Party chosen :31 October 1999.
Not selected:Mohammad Azharuddin, Jacob Martin, Nayan Mongia, Sunil Joshi.
Withdrawal : A D Jadeja’s shoulder injury was assessed in Mumbai and needed an operation which would take at least four weeks to heal. He withdrew on 22 November, to be replaced by H H Kanitkar (Maharashtra) who was at the time leading the India 'A' team in the West Indies.
One-day squad announced :30 December 1999.
Jadeja (shoulder operation) and Ramesh (broken thumb) were not available.Reuben Paul (Tamil Nadu wicket-keeper), Mohammad Kaif, Virender Sehwag and Reetinder Singh Sodhi (Punjab all-rounder) were also considered.
Laxman and Vijay Bharadwaj were expected to return to India but were retained in the one-day squad
The selectors are to meet in Baroda on January 19, if needed, to re-assess the performance of the Indian team and send re-enforcements if the show is not satisfactory by that stage. India would have played three league matches by then.
Time between selection and departure from India
23 days
(31 October - 22 November)
Travel
The team assembled in Mumbai on 22 November 1999 and flew out the following day. Kanitkar did not fly with the team.
not clear whether Kanitkar flew directly from the West Indies to Australia or returned to Bombay and then flew out the next day.
The Indians arrived in Brisbaneby a Malaysian Airlines flight on 24 November after a six-hour stopover in Kuala Lumpur Prasad hurt his knee when he bumped it on a suitcase at Kuala Lumpur airport en route to Australia. The knee later swelled, necessitating Mongia’s dash from India:Mongia arrived in Adelaide on 8 December.
Kapil Dev opted to have a knee operation during the middle of the tour, putting him out of action.
Reinforcements
Nayan R Mongia
Ba
26
WK
The team amangement requested that Mongia reinforce the team when the only wicket-keeper Prasad’s knee swelled up (after jolting it at the airport)but after the match against Tasmania on 23 December the BCCI called for Mongia to be sent back after the physio Andrew Leipus passed Prasad fully fit.Mongia returned home.
Sadagoppan Ramesh broke his left thumb and was unable to play in the third Test or afterwards.
For the one-day matches - Nikhil Chopra, S S Dighe, Sunil Joshi, Jacob Martin, Robin Singh came in.
Laxman was due to return home but was retained for the one-day tournament.
•Tendulkar lived up to his reputation by compiling 278 runs, including 116 in Melbourne and two fifties.
•On the other hand Dravid’s mere 93 runs in the series were scored at an average of 10 runs per hour.
•Ajit Agarkar acquired an unwanted world record of five successive Test ducks, four of them consecutive first ball ones.
•However, with 11 wickets at an average 31.90, Agarkar was the most successful Indian bowler in the Tests.
•Laxman scored a defiant 167 in the third Test at Sydney as India slumped to their third consecutive heavy defeat.
Tour Summary
P
W
L
D
Aban
Test Matches
3
0
3
0
-
Other first-class matches
3
1
1
1
-
† Minor matches
1
0
1
0
-
§One-day internationals
8
1
7
0
-
All Matches
15
2
12
1
-
Return to India
4 Jan 2000 Harbhajan Singh, T.Kumaran, M S K Prasad, Vijay Bharadwaj? and S Ramesh (injured) returned after the Test series.
The Indian team left for home from Perth on Monday afternoon 31 January, and received an unexpectedly warm welcome when they arrived at Chennai on Tuesday 1 Feb 2000.