The BCCI complained that Cricket South Africa had announced a
tour itinerary without consulting them.Then the Indian Board’s decision to stage two extra home Test matches
against West Indies cut into the time
available. Relations between Cricket South Africa and the BCCI became sour as
a three-Test itinerary preceded by seven one-dayers and two Twenty 20 matches
was chopped down to a mere six matches.
Only when CSA agreed that their CEO Haroon Lorgat would not take
part in future dealings concerning India was the tour confirmed. The
revised schedule permitted only two days’ preparation on South African soil,
and India
were heavily defeated in both one-day internationals that could be completed.
Following the death of former president Nelson Mandela the only practice
match was shifted by a day but eventually could not be played anyway owing to
heavy rainfall.
South Africa gained
a 1-0 Test series win against India.This was the first Test tour that India had
made with none of the batting line-up that had served so well in the last
twenty years: Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman and Sehwag. But the key
Indian batsmen Pujara and Kohli showed they were not shaken by the fast
bowling pounding they had taken in the one-day series. While fast bowlers
Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma took 4 wickets each when dismissing South Africa at Johannesburg, otherwise the bowling was too
ordinary to dismiss the home side. The South Africans came within 8 runs of
reaching a target of 458 and the match was left drawn. In the next Test at Durban the home side ran
out comfortable winners by ten wickets.
Sandeep Patil (West - chairman),Saba Karim (East), Vikram Rathore (North),Rajinder Singh Hans (Central) and Roger
Binny (South).The selectors met in
Vadodara.
Selection
Unavailable :Sachin Tendulkar retired after the Mumbai
Test against West Indies.
Test Tour Party Announced:25 November 2013.
Omitted :Amit Mishra,Gautam
Gambhir.Although the selectors
covered every other position with a reserve, they took only two opening
batsmen.
Limited-overs squad announced:Also
on 25 November.
Time between selection and
departure from India
days
(25 November - 1 December)
Travel
MumbaiQJohannesburg
Departure for the sixteen members of the ODI squad was from the International Airport, Mumbai, late on Sunday 1
December 2013. They arrived in Johannesburg
on the morning of 2 December, and the team bus took them to the Sandton Sun Hotel
for the media conference.
The B.C.C.I. sent the Test specialists (Zaheer Khan, Murali
Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Wridhiman Saha and Pragyan Ojha) who were not part
of the ODI squad, to South
Africa early for acclimatisation.
Time spent in South Affrica
29 days
(2 - 31 December)
On-tour
selection committee
Duncan Fletcher (coach),M S Dhoni (captain),
Reinforcements
None
Original
tour itinerary
…announced
by CSA on 9 July 2013.
A shortened tour programme (see Results below) agreed between
Cricket South Africa (CSA) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India
(BCCI) was announced in late October
⊕ Johannesburg
South
Africa(1st T20)
⊕ Cape Town
South
Africa(2nd T20)
§ Durban
South
Africa(1st ODI)
§ Port Elizabeth
South
Africa(2nd ODI)
§ East London
South
Africa(3rd ODI)
§ Centurion
South
Africa(4th ODI)
§ Johannesburg
South
Africa(5th ODI)
§ Bloemfontein
South
Africa(6th ODI)
§ Cape Town
South
Africa(7th ODI)
DURBAN
SOUTH AFRICAFirst Test
CAPE TOWN
SOUTH AFRICASecond Test
JOHANNESBURG
SOUTH AFRICAThird Test
Fixtures/Results
The tour was not confirmed until 21 October and the programme
not agreed until 30 October.
•Virat Kohli scorred
119 in the first Innings at Johannesburg
and 96 in the second innings
•Pujara scored 153 at Johannesburg, adding
222 together with Kohli for the third wicket
•Fast bowlers Zaheer
Khan and Ishant Sharma took 4 wickets each dismissing South Africa at Johannesburg
•Vijay scored 97 and
Rahane 96 at Durban
- so three batsmen were out in the nineties in the series.
•Jadeja took six
wickets for 138 runs at Durban
Tour
Summary
P
W
L
D
Aban
Test Matches
2
0
1
1
-
Other first-class matches
0
-
-
-
-
ϯ Minor matches
1
-
-
-
1
§ One-day internationals
3
0
2
1
-
⊕ 20/20 internationals
0
-
-
-
-
All Matches
6
0
3
2
1
Return
to India
JohannesburgQNew
Delhi
Limited-overs specialists
Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Mohit Sharma and Amit Mishra returned ….
The tour had to end on 30
December to avoid the BCCI’s contract with sponsors Sahara
extending into 2014.
The team landed at Mumbai
International airport on 1 January arriving around midnight. While the team
went to their designated hotel, Virat Kohli was picked up by girlfriend Anushka
Sharma's chauffeur-driven BMW to spend New Year at her private party
Time away from India
31 days
(1 December to 1 January)
Finances
Cricket South Africa
stood to lose R175 million because of the shortened series.
Accounts
of the tour
Postscript
While the BCCI were happy with the performance of coach Duncan
Fletcher, they had lost confidence in Joe Dawes and were looking for a new
bowling coach.