1996 Pepsi Sharjah Cup

The 1996 Pepsi Sharjah Cup was a triangular

• Aamir Sohail
  (captain)
• Waqar Younis
• Inzamam-ul-Haq
• Rashid Latif (wicket-keeper)
• Ata-ur-Rehman
• Basit Ali
• Saeed Anwar
• Aaqib Javed
• Mushtaq Ahmed
• Ijaz Ahmed
• Rameez Raja
• Saqlain Mushtaq
• Salim Malik
• Mohammad Akram

^[1]

Pakistan named a 14-player side, unchanged from the squad that won the 1996 Singer Cup. Intikhab Alam served as the team coach, and Dan Kiesel as the team physiotherapist.^[1]

South Africa

• Hansie Cronje (captain)
• Andrew Hudson
• Fanie de Villiers
• Daryll Cullinan
• Dave Richardson (wicket-keeper)
• Pat Symcox
• Gary Kirsten
• Paul Adams
• Brian McMillan
• Shaun Pollock
• Craig Matthews
• Jonty Rhodes
• Derek Crookes
• Jacques Kallis

^[1]

Bob Woolmer served as the team coach. Cassim Docrat was the team manager; Craig Smith was the physiotherapist and Paddy Upton worked as the exercise specialist.^[1]

India

• Mohammad Azharuddin (captain)
• Sachin Tendulkar (vice-captain)
• Javagal Srinath
• Ajay Jadeja
• Anil Kumble
• Sanjay Manjrekar
• Venkatesh Prasad
• Nayan Mongia (wicket-keeper)
• Aashish Kapoor
• Vikram Rathour
• Venkatapathy Raju
• Navjot Singh Sidhu
• Prashant Vaidya
• Rahul Dravid

^[1]

India named a 14-player side unchanged from the side it fielded in the 1996 Singer Cup. Sandeep Patil served as the team coach-cum-manager.^[1] Vikram Rathour made his international debut in the tournament.

Points Table

South Africa won all of their four round-robin matches. India and Pakistan each claimed one victory over the other. Tied at 2 points each, India qualified for the final against South Africa based on superior run-rate.

Team	P	W	L	T	NR	NRR	Points
South Africa	4	4	0	0	0	+1.67	8
India	4	1	3	0	0	−0.53	2
Pakistan	4	1	3	0	0	−1.15	2

^[2]

Matches

12 April Scorecard

Pakistan  271/5 (50 overs)	v	India 233 (47.2 overs)
Aamir Sohail 105 (127) Sachin Tendulkar 1/46 (10 overs)		Nayan Mongia 69 (78) Mushtaq Ahmed 4/47 (9.2 overs)

Pakistan won by 38 runs U.A.E. Umpires: Doug Cowie (New Zealand) and Mervyn Kitchen (England) Player of the match: Aamir Sohail (Pakistan)

• India won the toss and chose to field

13 April Scorecard

South Africa  314/3 (50 overs)	v	Pakistan 171/7 (50 overs)
Daryll Cullinan 110 * (109) Waqar Younis 1/56 (10 overs)		Salim Malik 64 (115) Fanie de Villiers 2/40 (10 overs)

South Africa won by 143 runs B.C. Cooray (Sri Lanka) and Doug Cowie (New Zealand ) Player of the match: Daryll Cullinan (South Africa)

• South Africa won the toss and chose to bat

14 April Scorecard

South Africa  288/6 (50 overs)	v	India 208/8 (50 overs)
Gary Kirsten 106 (116) Anil Kumble 2/45 (10 overs)		Sanjay Manjrekar 53 (80) Shaun Pollock 3/42 (10 overs)

South Africa won by 80 runs B.C. Cooray (Sri Lanka) and Mervyn Kitchen (England) Player of the match: Hansie Cronje (South Africa)

• South Africa won the toss and chose to bat

15 April Scorecard

India  305/5 (50 overs)	v	Pakistan 277 (46.1 overs)
Sachin Tendulkar 118 (140) Waqar Younis 3/44 (10 overs)		Aamir Sohail 78 (86) Javagal Srinath 3/65 (10 overs)

India won by 28 runs U.A.E. Umpires: Doug Cowie (New Zealand) and Mervyn Kitchen (England) Player of the match: Sachin Tendulkar (India)

• India won the toss and chose to bat
• This was the first time that India had scored 300 runs or more in ODIs.

16 April Scorecard

Pakistan  188 (45 overs)	v	South Africa 189/2 (33.1 overs)
Aamir Sohail 46 (73) Craig Matthews 3/19 (8 overs)		Andrew Hudson 94 * (86) Hansie Cronje 1/23 (4 overs)

South Africa won by 8 wickets B.C. Cooray (Sri Lanka) and Mervyn Kitchen (England) Player of the match: Craig Matthews (South Africa)

• South Africa won the toss and chose to bat

17 April Scorecard

India  215/8 (50 overs)	v	South Africa 216/5 (47.1 overs)
Ajay Jadeja 71 * (69) Paul Adams 3/30 (10 overs)		Daryll Cullinan 64 * (100) Venkatapathy Raju 3/38 (10 overs)

South Africa won by 5 wickets B.C. Cooray (Sri Lanka) and Mervyn Kitchen (England) Player of the match: Paul Adams (South Africa)

• India won and chose to bat

Final

19 April Scorecard

South Africa  287/5 (50 overs)	v	India 249/9 (50 overs)
Gary Kirsten 115 (142) Anil Kumble 2/42 (10 overs)		Sachin Tendulkar 57 (71) Hansie Cronje 1/23 (4 overs)

South Africa won by 38 runs B.C. Cooray (Sri Lanka) and Mervyn Kitchen (England) Player of the match: Gary Kirsten (South Africa)

• South Africa won and chose to bat

Records and awards

South African opening-batsman Gary Kirsten was the top run-scorer of the tournament, amassing 356 runs in 7 innings at an average of 89, with two centuries and one fifty.^[3] He was named the player of the series. Pakistani captain Aamir Sohail was the second-highest run getter, scoring 240 runs at an average of 60.^[3]

South African fast-bowler Fanie de Villiers took the most number of wickets, taking 10 wickets at an average of 19.20.^[4] Indian leg-spin bowler Anil Kumble followed with a haul of 8 wickets at an average of 26.50.^[4]

References