The Titan Cup was a triangular
One Day International
A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...
tournament held in India between 17 October and 6 November 1996 involving
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. Although South Africa had won all its round-robin matches, it lost in the final to India.
The tournament was sponsored by and named after
Titan Industries
Titan Company Limited is an Indian company that mainly manufactures fashion accessories such as jewellery, watches and eyewear. Part of the Tata Group and started as a joint venture with the TIDCO, the company has its corporate headquarters in ...
(a subsidiary of the
Tata Group
The Tata Group () is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Established in 1868, it is India's largest conglomerate, with products and services in over 150 countries, and operations in 100 countries across six continent ...
).
Background
The Titan Cup was held after the
inaugural series of the
Border–Gavaskar Trophy
The Border–Gavaskar Trophy is a Test cricket series played between India and Australia. It is played via the International Cricket Council's future tours program, every two years.
, India holds the trophy after defeating Australia in 2020-21 ...
between India and Australia. It was a one-Test series held in
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
, and was won by India, and served as the commencement of
South Africa's tour of India later that season. Having won the
Pepsi Sharjah Cup and five out of their six matches in the
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
that year, South Africa were considered favorites to win the competition. They were also coming on the back of winning a four-nation ODI tournament, the
Kenya Centenary Cup, where they defeated a strong
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
side in the final, and having lost only one game leading into the final, that to world champions
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
.
Captain
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 ...
admitted that his side were "in cracking one-day form" before the Titan Cup commenced. Australia, the runners-up in the World Cup, were considered second favorites. India, having not won any ODI competition leading into the tournament, had seen the team captaincy change hands from veteran
Mohammad Azharuddin
Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the Memb ...
to the then 23-year-old star batsman
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-scor ...
.
Before their first game against India, South Africa played a practice game in
Gymkhana Ground in
Secunderabad
Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It ...
dividing themselves into two teams and with members of the
Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
, the local first-class team.
Squads
The South Africa coaching staff was headed by
Bob Woolmer
Robert Andrew Woolmer (14 May 1948 – 18 March 2007) was an English cricket coach, cricketer, and a commentator. He played in 19 Test matches and six One Day Internationals for the England cricket team and later coached South Africa, Warwick ...
, with Robbie Muzzell accompanying the squad as the manager. The squad arrived in India on 14 October 1996 without their four regular team players: medium pace bowler
Craig Matthews, batsman
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 ...
, all-rounder
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 ...
and
spinner Technology
*Spinner (aeronautics), the aerodynamic cone at the hub of an aircraft propeller
* Spinner (cell culture), laboratory equipment for cultivating plant or mammalian cells
* Spinner (computing), a graphical widget in a GUI
* Spinner (MIT Med ...
Paul Adams.
Gary Kirsten
Gary Kirsten (born 23 November 1967) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. He has coached the Indian Cricket Team as well as the South African Cricket team.
Kirsten played 101 Test matches and 185 One Day Internationals for So ...
was named the new vice-captain of the side.
The India team coach was
Madan Lal
Madan Lal Udhouram Sharma (; born 20 March 1951) is a former Indian cricketer (1974–1987) and Indian national cricket coach. He was a member of the 1983 Cricket World Cup winning India squad.
Playing career
Madan Lal enjoyed outstanding all ...
. Debutants included
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
opening batsman
Sujith Somasunder
Sujith Bijjahalli Somasundar (born 2 December 1972) is a former Indian cricketer. He played domestic cricket for Karnataka and played two One Day Internationals for India in 1996
Early domestic career
Somasundar got his chance on the basis of ...
and
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
all-rounder
Robin Singh. The squad for their first three games was announced on 13 October 1996. On 23 October, for the remaining three of the group stage games following the loss to South Africa, the Indian selectors brought in
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 ...
in place of
Sujith Somasunder
Sujith Bijjahalli Somasundar (born 2 December 1972) is a former Indian cricketer. He played domestic cricket for Karnataka and played two One Day Internationals for India in 1996
Early domestic career
Somasundar got his chance on the basis of ...
.
Results
South Africa won all their round-robin matches against India and Australia. Australia did not win any of their matches, losing two of their encounters against India.
In third match, Anil Kumble along with
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 Inter ...
helped India to win their ODI match against Australia in Bangalore. The duo added 52 runs for 9th wicket partnership, after
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-scor ...
got out at 88 when India was 164/8, chasing a target of 216 runs. The India-Australia match in
Cuttack
Cuttack (, or officially Kataka ) in Odia is the former capital and the second largest city in the Indian state of Odisha. It is the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised form of ''Kataka'' which literall ...
was abandoned due to rain, resulting in both teams getting one point each. In the 9th and last round-robin match, which was a virtual semi-final, India won by 5 runs defending 289, their highest ever total against Australia then. India managed to qualify for the final against South Africa on the strength of their two round-robin victories against Australia.
Matches
Going into the match, South Africa had a marginally better record with nine wins against eight losses over India. Electing to bat first upon winning the toss in front of a 35,000-strong crowd, South Africa got off to a fine start after a
maiden
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
over by paceman
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 Inter ...
.
Openers
Gary Kirsten
Gary Kirsten (born 23 November 1967) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. He has coached the Indian Cricket Team as well as the South African Cricket team.
Kirsten played 101 Test matches and 185 One Day Internationals for So ...
and
Andrew Hudson then put together a
partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...
of 74 at 14 overs.
Kirsten particularly punished India's spinner
Sunil Joshi
Sunil Bandacharya Joshi (; born 6 June 1970) is an Indian former cricketer and former selector of the India cricket team. He played as an all-rounder who bowled slow left arm spin and batted left-handed. Sunil Joshi was appointed as chief sel ...
during his knock of 81, supported well by
Daryll Cullinan
Daryll John Cullinan (born 4 March 1967) is a former South African first-class cricketer who played Test cricket and One Day Internationals for South Africa as a specialist batsman. He was regarded as the most gifted batsman of his generation ...
(16), who added 43 together for the third wicket. A middle-order collapse — three wickets for 21 runs — was followed by a stand of 76 between Cronje and
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 ...
. Cronje remained unbeaten at 65 at the end helping take his team to 261 for the loss of seven wickets.
Anil Kumble
Anil Kumble (; born 17 October 1970) is a former Indian cricket captain, coach and commentator who played Test and One Day International cricket for his national team over an international career of 18 years. Widely regarded as one of the best ...
was India's best bowler for the innings picking wickets of Kirsten, pinch-hitter
Pat Symcox
Patrick Leonard Symcox (born 14 April 1960) is a former South African international cricketer. He played 20 Test matches and 80 One Day Internationals in the 1990s.[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 ...]
.
India began poorly losing debutante
Sujith Somasunder
Sujith Bijjahalli Somasundar (born 2 December 1972) is a former Indian cricketer. He played domestic cricket for Karnataka and played two One Day Internationals for India in 1996
Early domestic career
Somasundar got his chance on the basis of ...
and captain
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-scor ...
early, before
Mohammad Azharuddin
Mohammad Azharuddin (born 8 February 1963) is an Indian politician and a former international cricketer and former captain of India national cricket team. He is the working president of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee and was the Memb ...
and
Rahul Dravid
Rahul Sharad Dravid (; born 11 January 1973) is an Indian cricket coach and former captain of the Indian national team, currently serving as its head coach. Prior to his appointment to the senior men's national team, Dravid was the Head of ...
put together 67 runs for the third wicket.
Dravid was India's best batsman in the game who made a patient 62 before top-edging Crookes while attempting to
sweep
Sweep or swept may refer to:
Cleaning
* Sweep, the action of using a brush to clean
* Chimney sweep, a worker who clears ash and soot from chimneys
* Street sweeper, a person's occupation, or a machine that cleans streets
* Swept quartz, a cleani ...
him.
Sourav Ganguly
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly (; natively spelled as Gangopadhyay; born 8 July 1972), affectionately known as Dada (meaning ''"elder brother"'' in Bengali), is an Indian cricket administrator, commentator and former national cricket team captain w ...
was involved in a mix-up with Dravid while attempting a sharp single off
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 crashing into him, before McMillan ran him out. Despite being declared out, South Africa captain Cronje recalled Ganguly, only before he lost his wicket to
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 ...
, who also dismissed
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 ...
.
The tail fell cheaply and India were
all out for 214, short of the opposition's score by 47 runs.
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 ...
stood out for Cronje's team in the field affecting two
run out
Run out is a method of dismissal in cricket, governed by Law 38 of the Laws of Cricket.
A run out usually occurs when the batsmen are attempting to run between the wickets, and the fielding team succeed in getting the ball to one wicket befo ...
s, while de Villiers' accurate bowling restricted India's scoring. However, Kirsten's innings of 84 won him the man of the match award.
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
----
Final
Records and awards
India's Titan Cup win was its first ODI tournament victory in 1996, as well as the first under captain
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-scor ...
. Tendulkar was the lead run-scorer in the tournament, with 320 runs in 6 innings. With 17 wickets, Allan Donald of South Africa won the player of the series award.
Broadcast
It was announced in October 1996 that the tournament would be broadcast live on
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
and
Doordarshan
Doordarshan (abbreviated as DD; Hindi: , ) is an Indian public service broadcaster founded by the Government of India, owned by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and one of Prasar Bharati's two divisions. One of India's largest bro ...
in Indian television.
References
External links
Tournament homeon
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 ...
Tournament homeon ESPNcricinfo archive
* {{Cricketarchive, ref=Archive/Events/1/Titan_World_Series_1996-97, name=Titan World Series 1996/97
1996 in cricket
International cricket competitions from 1994–95 to 1997
Indian cricket seasons from 1970–71 to 1999–2000
1996–97 Australian cricket season
South African cricket seasons from 1970–71 to 1999–2000
1996 in Indian sport
One Day International cricket competitions
Tata Group