| Titan Cup | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 17 October – 6 November 1996 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | India | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Result |  India won the tri-series | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Player of the series | Anil Kumble | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TheTitan Cup was a triangularOne Day Internationalcricket tournament held in India between 17 October and 6 November 1996 involvingSouth Africa,Australia andIndia. Although South Africa had won all its round-robin matches, it lost in the final to India.[1] The tournament was sponsored by and named afterTitan Industries (a subsidiary of theTata Group).
The Titan Cup was held after theinaugural series of theBorder–Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia. It was a one-Test series held inNew Delhi, and was won by India, and served as the commencement ofSouth Africa's tour of India later that season. Having won thePepsi Sharjah Cup and five out of their six matches in theWorld Cup 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, theKenya Centenary Cup, where they defeated a strongPakistan side in the final, and having lost only one game leading into the final, that to world championsSri Lanka.[2] CaptainHansie Cronje admitted that his side were "in cracking one-day form" before the Titan Cup commenced.[3] 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 veteranMohammad Azharuddin to the then 23-year-old star batsmanSachin Tendulkar.
Before their first game against India, South Africa played a practice game inGymkhana Ground inSecunderabad dividing themselves into two teams and with members of theHyderabad, the local first-class team.[4]
| India |  Australia |  South Africa |
|---|---|---|
The South Africa coaching staff was headed byBob Woolmer, with Robbie Muzzell accompanying the squad as the manager.[5] The squad arrived in India on 14 October 1996 without their four regular team players: medium pace bowlerCraig Matthews, all-rounderJacques Kallis, all-rounderShaun Pollock andspinnerPaul Adams.Gary Kirsten was named the new vice-captain of the side.[2]
The India team coach wasMadan Lal.Karnataka opening batsmanSujith Somasunder made his debut whileTamil Nadu all-rounderRobin Singh made his comeback to the team after 7 years.The squad for their first three games was announced on 13 October 1996.[6] On 23 October, for the remaining three of the group stage games following the loss to South Africa, the Indian selectors brought inNavjot Singh Sidhu in place ofSujith Somasunder.[7]
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.[1] In third match, Anil Kumble along withJavagal Srinath helped India to win their ODI match against Australia in Bangalore. The duo added 52 runs for 9th wicket partnership, afterSachin Tendulkar got out at 88 when India was 164/8, chasing a target of 216 runs.[8][9] The India-Australia match inCuttack 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.
| Team | Pld | W | L | T | NR | Pts | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | +0.478 |
| India | 6 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | –0.289 |
| Australia | 6 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | –0.296 |
| Source: ESPNcricinfo[10] | |||||||
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South Africa won by 47 runs Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium,Hyderabad Umpires:H. S. Sekhon (Ind) andRaman Sharma (Ind) Player of the match:Gary Kirsten (SA) |
Going into the match, South Africa had a marginally better record with nine wins against eight losses over India.[13] 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 amaiden over by pacemanJavagal Srinath.[14] OpenersGary Kirsten andAndrew Hudson then put together apartnership of 74 at 14 overs.[15] Kirsten particularly punished India's spinnerSunil Joshi during his knock of 81, supported well byDaryll Cullinan (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 andBrian McMillan. Cronje remained unbeaten at 65 at the end helping take his team to 261 for the loss of seven wickets.Anil Kumble was India's best bowler for the innings picking wickets of Kirsten, pinch-hitterPat Symcox andDerek Crookes.[14]
India began poorly losing debutanteSujith Somasunder and captainSachin Tendulkar early, beforeMohammad Azharuddin andRahul Dravid put together 67 runs for the third wicket.[15] Dravid was India's best batsman in the game who made a patient 62 before top-edging Crookes while attempting tosweep him.Sourav Ganguly was involved in a mix-up with Dravid while attempting a sharp single offFanie de Villiers 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 toAllan Donald, who also dismissedAjay Jadeja.[14] The tail fell cheaply and India wereall out for 214, short of the opposition's score by 47 runs.Jonty Rhodes stood out for Cronje's team in the field affecting tworun outs, while de Villiers' accurate bowling restricted India's scoring. However, Kirsten's innings of 84 won him the man of the match award.[15]
19 October Scorecard |
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South Africa won by 7 wickets Nehru Stadium,Indore Umpires:Subroto Banerjee (Ind) andSuresh Deo (Ind) Player of the match:Gary Kirsten (SA) |
21 October Scorecard |
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India won by 2 wickets M. Chinnaswamy Stadium,Bangalore Umpires:S. K. Bansal (Ind) andSubroto Porel (Ind) Player of the match:Sachin Tendulkar (Ind) |
23 October Scorecard |
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South Africa won by 27 runs Sawai Mansingh Stadium,Jaipur Umpires:S. Choudhary (Ind) andJose Kurushinkal (Ind) Player of the match:Daryll Cullinan (SA) |
25 October Scorecard |
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South Africa won by 2 wickets Nahar Singh Stadium,Faridabad Umpires:B. Jamula (Ind) andM. R. Singh (Ind) Player of the match:Daryll Cullinan (SA) |
29 October Scorecard |
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South Africa won by 5 wickets Municipal Stadium,Rajkot Umpires:Vijay Chopra (Ind) andSurya Prakash Rao (Ind) Player of the match:Jonty Rhodes (SA) |
1 November Scorecard |
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South Africa won by 8 wickets Nehru Stadium,Guwahati Umpires:Bala Murali (Ind) andK. Parthasarathy (Ind) Player of the match:Pat Symcox (SA) |
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India won by 5 runs Punjab Cricket Association Stadium,Chandigarh Umpires:AV Jayaprakash (Ind) andS. K. Sharma (Ind) Player of the match:Mohammad Azharuddin (Ind) |
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India won by 35 runs Wankhede Stadium,Mumbai Umpires:V. K. Ramaswamy (Ind) andS. Venkataraghavan (Ind) Player of the match:Anil Kumble (Ind) |
India's Titan Cup win was its first ODI tournament victory in 1996, as well as the first under captainSachin Tendulkar. 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.
It was announced in October 1996 that the tournament would be broadcast live onESPN andDoordarshan in Indian television.[17]