Throwback: When India fielded two teams for different series at the same time

Throwback: When India fielded two teams for different series at the same time

Sachin Tendulkar

India are set to tour Sri Lanka for a limited overs series in July. The interesting thing about the same is that the Indian Test players won’t be available for the series due to the fact that they will be occupied with their commitments in England starting the final of the World Test Championship (WTC) and a five-match series against England.

Thanks to India’s outstanding depth, they should be able to manage remarkably well without their Test side, but this is certainly not a very common sight in cricket. In fact, it has happened only once before in the year 1998 when India had to send two different teams for two different competitions.

The Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lampur in 1998 as well as the Sahara Cup tournament against Pakistan were scheduled at the same time. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) did not want to throw away the chance of a series against rivals Pakistan while also wanting to ensure that India takes part in a big competition like the CWG.

India end up on the losing side in both CWG and Sahara Cup

Sahara Cup 1998
Indian team

The CWG took place first and India split the team in two to ensure that both sides had equal strength. On the other hand, Pakistan who did the same thing sent their main team to the CWG and a weakened team to the Sahara Cup. For India, the CWG campaign ended in early defeat as one win, one loss and one no-result meant that they were out of the event in the group stages.

Due to the early exit, the BCCI decided to send the players immediately to the Sahara Cup which was also taking place at the same time. The likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble and VVS Laxman joined the Sahara Cup squad, but weren’t able to spark a turnaround in fortunes as Pakistan clinched the series 4-1. Sachin Tendulkar notably scored a terrific 77 in the final match which went in vain.

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