Test Cricket Tours - India to West Indies 1988-89

Test Cricket Tours - India to West Indies 1988-89

Tour of West Indies 1988-89        Captain: Dilip Vengsarkar

India's 27 th Test tour

Sixth Test-playing tour of West Indies by India

(March - May 1989)

It was India's first overseas tour for nearly three years.
Navjot Singh Sidhi was selected for the tour despite being accused of manslaughter following a traffic accident in Patiala. The driver of one of the vehicles, an elderly farmer, was allegedly beaten to death after his car ran into Sidhu's. Sidhu was allowed out of the country after leaving a 50 000 rupee bond. Some of the West Indian governments were reluctant to grant him an entry visa. As a result, he was forced to miss the opening match of the tour. All charges were later dropped.
Mohinder Amarnath was omitted from the tour party after refusing to pay a 1000-rupee fine for calling the selectors "a bunch of idiots".
Robin Singh, born in Trinidad, became an Indian citizen only two weeks before the tour.
At the end of the tour, Vengsarkar publicly criticised his team for lacking courage and a sense of purpose. Results were very poor: the Test series was lost 3-0 and the one-day series 5-0. Run-scoring was never sufficient but the batsmen had to face Malcolm Marshall at his best.
Contrary to the wishes of the Indian Board, the team played a short series of one-day exhibition matches in America, earning twice as much as their income from touring the West Indies.

Other Indian tours

Previous tour
England 1986

Next tour
Pakistan 1989-90

Next tour of West Indies
1996-97

Members of the Test tour party (17)

Opening batsmen: Kris Srikkanth, Jagdish Arun Lal, Navjot Singh Sidhu
Middle order batsmen: Mohammad Azharuddin, Dilip Vengsarkar, Sanjay Manjrekar, Robin Singh
Wicket-keeper: Kiran More, Saba Karim
Spin bowlers   Ravi Shastri, Ajay Sharma, Margas Venkatarama, Arshad Ayub, Narendra Hirwani
Fast bowlers: Kapil Dev, Sanjeev Sharma, Chetan Sharma.

Arshad Ayub
Hd
30
OB

J Arun Lal
Bn
33
RHB opener

Mohammad Azharuddin
Hd
26
RHB

N D Hirwani
MP
20
LBG

Kapil Dev
Hy
30
RHB   RFM   deputy vice-captain

S S Karim
Bh
21
reserve WK

S V Manjrekar
B
24
RHB

K S More
Ba
26
WK

A K Sharma
D
24
RHB     (SLA)

Chetan Sharma
Hy
23
RFM

S K Sharma
D
23
RFM

R J Shastri
B
26
RHB SLA

N S Sidhu
Pj
25
RHB opener

R R Singh
TN
25
LHB   RM

K Srikkanth
TN
29
RHB opener     vice-captain

D B Vengsarkar
B
32
RHB    captain

M Venkataramana
TN
22
OB

Representation of teams:

Ba - Baroda (1)
Bn - Bengal (1)
Bh - Bihar (1)
B   - Bombay (3)
D - Delhi (2)
Hy – Haryana (2)
Hd - Hyderabad (2)
MP - Madhya Pradesh (1)
Pj - Punjab (1)
TN - Tamil Nadu (3)





Average age of team at time of first Test match
(25 March 1989) :
     26 yrs 0 months

Test Appearances made before the tour

Vengsarkar 101, Kapil Dev 95, Shastri 61, Srikkanth 35, Azharuddin, More 20, Chetan Sharma 19, Arun Lal 12, Arshad 7, Sidhu 5, Hirwani 4, Raman 2, Manjrekar 1, A Sharma 1, S Sharma 1, Karim 0, Singh 0, Venkatarama 0.

Team Officials

S Venkataraghaven
Tour Manager

Coach
P Kannan
Physiotherapist

Selectors

Raj Singh Dungarpur (chairman), B S Chandrasekhar, C P S Chauhan, R C Saxena, N S Tamhane.

Selection

After deliberating forty names, the selectors announced 23 probables on 31 January.
Not selected: Mohinder Amarnath, Raman Lamba, Manoj Prabhakar, VB Chandrasekhar, Rashid Patil, Srikaut Kalyani.
The team was chosen after a conditioning camp (8-14 February) from which Mohinder Amarnath and Maninder Singh had been controversially omitted. It was reported that Sanjay Manjrekar was the last man to be chosen.

Tour Party Announced: 14 February 1994.
Not selected: T A Sekhar, Roger Binny, Salil Ankola, Chandrakant Pandit, Woorkeri Raman, Maninder Singh, Carlton Saldanha (24 year-old Karnataka batsman).

Time between selection and departure from India
11 days
(14 February - 25 February)

Travel

The team left Bombay for London on 25 February 1989. They flew without Navjot Singh Sidhu who was granted interim bail by the Haryana and Punjab High Court but the order was challenged by the victim's nephew.
Arrived in Barbados on 26 February 1989 (not in Gleanor)

Time spent in West Indies
   84 days
(26 February - 21 May)

On-tour selection

Dilip Vengsarkar (captain), Kris Srikkanth (vice-captain), Venkataraghaven (manager), Kapil Dev.

Reinforcements

W V Raman
TN
23
LHB opener

Raman - having just broken Modi’s record for the number of first-class runs in an Indian season - was brought in for Srikkanth, who returned home early after his left arm was broken by a ball from Ian Bishop. Kapil Dev was made vice-captain.

Fixtures/Results

a
Bridgetown
West Indies Board President's XI
Drawn
b
§ Bridgetown
West Indies (1st ODI)
Lost 50 r
c
§ Port of Spain
West Indies (2nd ODI)
Lost 6 w
d
§ Port of Spain
West Indies (3rd ODI)
Lost 6 w
e
Basseterre, St Kitts
West Indies under-23 XI
Drawn
f
§ St John's
West Indies (4th ODI)
Lost 8 w
g
§ Georgetown
West Indies (5th ODI)
Lost 101 r
h
GEORGETOWN
WEST INDIES First Test
DRAWN
i
Kingstown, St Vincent
West Indies Board XI
Drawn
j
BRIDGETOWN
WEST INDIES Second Test
LOST 8 w
k
PORT OF SPAIN
WEST INDIES Third Test
LOST 217 r
l
Kingston
Jamaica
Drawn
m
KINGSTON
WEST INDIES Fourth Test
LOST 7 w

n
† New York
West Indian XI
Won
o
† New York
Pakistan XI
Won
p
† Toronto
Pakistan XI
Lost
q
† Los Angeles
Pakistan XI
Lost

§ one-day international
† not first-class

Time spent in West Indies before First Test:
27 days
(26 February - 25 March)

Test appearances on tour

4 - Arshad Ayub, Arun Lal, Kapil Dev, Manjrekar, More, Chetan Sharma, Shastri, Sidhu, Vengsarkar
3 - Azharuddin, Hirwani,
2 -
1 -   Raman, Venkatarama.
0 -    Karim, A Sharma, S Sharma, Singh, Srikkanth.

Match appearances

a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
Arshad Ayub
x
o

x
o
o
T

T

T

Arun Lal
x

x
o
o
T
x
T
T

T

Azharuddin
x
o
o
o

o
o
T

T

x
T

Hirwani

o
o
x

T
x
T
T
x

Kapil Dev
x
o
o
o

o
o
T
x
T
T

T

Karim

x

x

x

Manjrekar

x

T
x
T
T
x
T

More
x
o
o
o

o
o
T

T
T

T

Raman

x

T
x

Ajay Sharma

o
o
o
x
o
o

x
T

x

Chetan Sharma

o
o
o

o
o
T

T
T

T

Sanjeev Sharma
x
o
o

x

x

x

Shastri
x
o
o
o

o
o
T

T
T

T

Sidhu

T

T
T

T

Robin Singh
x

o
x
o

x

x

Srikkanth
x
o
o
o
x
o
o

Vengsarkar
x
o
o
o

o
o
T

T
T
x
T

Venkataramana
x

x

x

x
T

Highlights

•    Arshad Ayub took 5-104 at Georgetown and 5-117 at Port of Spain.
•    Sanjay Manjrekar scored 108 at Bridgetown, being ninth man out and helping the tail extend India’s innings
•    Shastri scored a defiant 107, batting for 7½ hours, (after earlier taking 4-78) at Bridgetown
•    Kapil Dev took 5-58 at Port of Spain and 6-84 at Kingston and topped the averages with 16 wickets.
•    Navjot Sidhu hit 116 at Kingston, retiring halfway through his innings owing to a blow on the hand and cramp.

Tour Summary

P
W
L
D
Aban
Test Matches
4
0
3
1
-
Other first-class matches
4
0
0
4
-
§ One-day internationals
5
0
5
0
-
ϯ Minor matches in America
4
2
2
0
-
All Matches
17
2
5
10
-

Return to India

On 21 May 1989 the team flew from Kingston, Jamaica, to New York City, and then on to Canada. "The Indians flouted a Board directive and flew off for an unauthorised series of matches in North America for a reported £4750 per man - roughly double the fee for the entire unhappy Caribbean tour"
                                                                                                      [Wisden Cricket Monthly June 1989].

Time away from India
  x days
(25 February till arrive back in India)

Finances

Published accounts of the tour