The Indian cricket team toured South Africa during the 1996–97 season, playing three Tests from 21 December 1996 to 30 January 1997. Prior to the series, India toured South Africa in the 1992–93 season, losing the Test series 0–1. India was led by

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who captained the Indian national team. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the all time highest run-sco ...

while South Africa was led by

Hansie Cronje Wessel Johannes "Hansie" Cronje (25 September 1969 – 1 June 2002) was a South African international cricketer and captain of the South African national cricket team in the 1990s. A right-handed all-rounder, as captain Cronje led his team to vi ...

. The series was Tendulkar's first overseas Test tour as captain and third overall. The tour began with a Test series (named Castle Lager Series for sponsorship reasons), consisting of three matches. South Africa won the first two matches by a huge margin, thereby winning the series 2–0, while the final Test ended in a draw. At the end of the series,

Brian McMillan Brian Mervin McMillan (born 22 December 1963) played 38 Test matches and 78 One Day Internationals for South Africa from 1991 to 1998. He was rated by many as the best all-rounder in the world in the mid-1990s, and won South African Cricket ...

of South Africa emerged as the top run-scorer with 296 runs, with an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 98.66. He was closely followed by fellow team member Daryl Cullinan with 291 runs and India's Rahul Dravid (277 runs).

Allan Donald Allan Anthony Donald (born 20 October 1966) is a South African former cricketer who is also the current bowling coach of Bangladesh national cricket team. Often nicknamed 'White Lightning' due to his lightning quick bowling, he is considered ...

and

Javagal Srinath Javagal Srinath, (, born 31 August 1969) is a former Indian cricketer and currently an ICC match referee. He is considered among India's finest fast bowlers, and was the first Indian fast bowler to take more than 300 wickets in One Day Inte ...

finished the series as top wicket-takers capturing 20 and 18 wickets respectively. The former was named "

man of the series In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

". The Test series was followed by a triangular One-Day tournament, which included

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

as the third team. South Africa won all its round-robin matches, and played against India in the finals; they defeated India by 17 runs to win the title. Donald once again ended up as the leading wicket-taker in the tournament with 18 wickets, while Cronje was declared "man of the series".

Squads

The South Africa squad announced for the first two Tests excluded regulars

Jonty Rhodes Jonathan Neil "Jonty" Rhodes (born 27 July 1969) is a South African professional cricket commentator and former Test and One Day International cricketer. He is regarded as one of the greatest fielders of all time and was the first South African ...

Fanie de Villiers Petrus Stephanus "Fanie" de Villiers (born 13 October 1964), is a retired cricketer who played 18 Test matches and 83 One Day Internationals for South Africa as a right arm fast-medium bowler and right hand batsman between 1992 and 1998. He ...

and Pat Symcox. Rhodes was omitted owing to an injury and concerns over suitability of his form for Test cricket, Symcox over the use of two spinners on bouncy wickets; Paul Adams made the team, while de Villiers' exclusion went unexplained by the team management.

Derek Crookes Derek Norman Crookes (born 5 March 1969) is a former South African cricketer who played 32 One Day Internationals for South Africa between 1994 and 2000. In domestic cricket he played for Natal, Gauteng, Easterns and the Highveld Lions. He w ...

Nicky Boje Nico Boje ( ; born 20 March 1973) is a South African former cricketer who played in 43 Tests, 115 One Day Internationals and single Twenty20 International for South Africa. Boje was a member of Africa XI team for 2005 Afro-Asia Cup. He is the ...

, John Commins, who were members of the team's tour of India earlier that season, were also excluded.

Shaun Pollock Shaun Maclean Pollock OIS (born 16 July 1973) is a South African cricket commentator and former cricketer, who was captain in all formats of the game. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers and allrounders of all time. A genu ...

, who missed his made the squad upon recovering from a heel injury.

Jacques Kallis Jacques Henry Kallis (born 16 October 1975) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time and as South Africa's greatest batsman ever, he is a right-handed batsman and righ ...

was also included alongside uncapped

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

player Adam Bacher. Their ODI squad was announced on 20 January 1997. Rhodes was recalled to the side following good performances for

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

in the domestic circuit. After good performances in the Test series, Kallis was recalled. After the squad was announced,

ruled out with an inflamed

tendon A tendon or sinew is a tough, high-tensile-strength band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It is able to transmit the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system without sacrificing its ability ...

in his left foot; Craig Matthews was named as his replacement. Matthews injured his ankle during the second game and was replaced by Rudi Bryson. A 16-member India squad was announced for the Test series.

was retained as the captain; Sunil Dev was named manager for the tour.

Navjot Singh Sidhu Navjot Singh Sidhu (born 20 October 1963) is an Indian National Congress politician, television personality and retired international cricketer. He is the former President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. Formerly, he was the Minister of To ...

and

Vinod Kambli Vinod Kambli (; born 18 January 1972) is a former Indian international Cricketer, who played for India as a left-handed middle order batsman, as well as for Mumbai and Boland, South Africa. Kambli became the first cricketer in cricket history ...

were not considered for selection due to disciplinary reasons, while

Ajay Jadeja Ajaysinhji Jadeja ( born 1 February 1971), known as Ajay Jadeja, is an Indian former professional cricketer, who was a regular member of the Indian cricket team between 1992 and 2000. He played 15 Test matches and 196 One Day Internationals f ...

, Sunil Joshi,

Wasim Jaffer Wasim Jaffer (born 16 February 1978) is an Indian retired professional cricketer. He was a right-handed opening batsman and an occasional right arm off-break bowler. He is currently the highest run-scorer in Ranji Trophy cricket, surpassing Am ...

Sanjay Manjrekar Sanjay Vijay Manjrekar (born 12 July 1965) is an Indian cricket commentator and former cricketer. He played international cricket for India from 1987 until 1996 as a right-handed middle order batsman. Domestic career Manjrekar was born in Mang ...

and

Abey Kuruvilla Abey Kuruvilla (born 4 August 1968) is an Indian former cricketer and general manager of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). He played as a bowler in mid-1990s for Indian cricket team. He was a selector of BCCI. Kuruvilla notable f ...

were left out from the squad. Overall, four seam bowlers and two spinners made the squad. However, the inclusion of three wicket-keepers including uncapped player

Pankaj Dharmani Pankaj Dharmani (born 27 September 1974) is a former Indian cricketer. He played domestic cricket for Punjab and played a single One Day International for India against South Africa in 1996. Pankaj Dharmani made his debut for Punjab in the 1 ...

attracted criticism. Jadeja and Joshi were later brought in for the triangular ODI series, along with Robin Singh and

Salil Ankola Salil Ashok Ankola (; born 1 March 1968) is a former international cricketer who played one Test match and 20 One Day Internationals (ODIs) from 1989 to 1997 for India. A right-arm fast-medium bowler, he played first-class cricket for Mumbai, r ...

, who replaced Dharmani, David Johnson,

Venkatapathy Raju Sagi Lakshmi Venkatapathy Raju, sometimes spelt Venkapathy Raju (born 9 July 1969) is a former Indian cricketer , cricket administrators & cricket coach. He came into the Indian side in 1989–90 after capturing 32 wickets in the domestic seaso ...

and Woorkeri Raman of the Test side.

Tour matches

Three-day: Eastern Province v Indians

55-over: Natal Invitation XI v Indians

50-over: Griqualand West v Indians

Three-day: Free State v Indians

50-over: South Africa A v Indians

Test matches

1st Test

After India won the toss and elected to field first, South Africa were bowled out for 235 runs. India managed just 100 runs in their first innings. South Africa in their second innings made 259, setting a target of 395 for India. India ended up scoring 66 runs, their fourth lowest total in Tests, thereby losing the match by 328 runs.

2nd Test

3rd Test

South Africa appealed for bad light and escaped defeat.

References

External links

Tour home
at

ESPNcricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

India in South Africa, Dec 1996-Jan 1997
at ESPNcricinfo archive * {{DEFAULTSORT:Indian cricket team in South Africa in 1996-97 1996 in South African cricket 1997 in South African cricket South African cricket seasons from 1970–71 to 1999–2000 1996-97 International cricket competitions from 1994–95 to 1997 1996 in Indian cricket 1997 in Indian cricket