Barring one-off Tests, South Africa became the first team to clean sweep India in a Test series in India in 1999/00. Now, 16 years later, they stand on the brink of inflicting another series whitewash in India. Abhishek Mukherjee recounts the incident-fraught 99/00 series.
In September 1999, India reappointed Sachin Tendulkar as captain and got Kapil Dev on board as coach. Under this dream combination, India hiccoughed to a Test series win against New Zealand at home, but were battered in both formats in Australia.
Back home, however, they had little to worry about. They had not lost a Test series at home since 1986/87, Kapil’s last in the format as captain. With Anil Kumble as the forefront, they had found a group of spinners that, supported by Tendulkar & co. with the bat, would keep them unbeaten at home through the 1990s. They had gone through 14 home series without losing a single one.
In the only tour match prior to the series, the South Africans were thwarted in the fourth innings by a second-wicket stand between Wasim Jaffer and Mohammad Kaif. Both debuted in the Test series that followed. Left-arm spinner Clive Eksteen, who had last played Test cricket more than four years ago, earned a comeback with his eight wickets in that match.
However, there was little interest around the outcome. On the second day of the tour game, Tendulkar had dropped a bombshell at a press conference. “As captain, I accept moral responsibility for our failure [in Australia] and after a lot of thought I have decided to step down as captain after the two Tests against South Africa.” In other words, he would not even wait until the five ODIs that would follow.
The media probed, trying to figure out whether Mohammad Azharuddin’s recall to the side could have had to do with his decision, but to no avail. Throughout the 1990s, the Indian captaincy had gone from Azharuddin to Tendulkar, and again to Azharuddin and to Tendulkar. There had been rumours around a rift between the two circa 1996. These were going to be the first matches for Azharuddin in Tendulkar’s second stint as captain.
It was under these circumstances that India began their series against Hansie Cronje’s men, whose meticulous planning for the series – sticking to a line, occupying hours at the crease – showed as the tour unfolded.
Chapter One: Bombay
Apart from Jaffer, two left-arm spinners debuted in the first Test – Murali Kartik and Nicky Boje as Azharuddin missed out due to an injury. Allan Donald, on his final tour of India, bowled Jaffer and Rahul Dravid early in the Test match, and India never recovered. Tendulkar demonstrated his class in an assortment of boundaries en route to 97, while Ajit Agarkar ended his streak of five ducks in Test cricket with a 42-ball 41 not out. India made 225.
On a pitch where spinners were expected to call the shots, the Donald, Shaun Pollock, and Jacques Kallis bowled superbly, stifling the Indians to share eight wickets. Disciplined in their line outside the off-stump on a pitch that offered them little, they forced the hosts to commit errors.
Gary Kirsten (50) and Herschelle Gibbs (47) then added 90. Of the Indians, only Tendulkar (3-10) – by bowling leg-breaks to Gibbs and off-breaks to Kirsten – troubled them until he got rid of both. Kumble and Kartik then struck twice each, while Javagal Srinath (3-45) cleaned up the tail to secure a 49-run lead.
But India collapsed again, this time to 113 against Donald (2-23) and Pollock (4-24). Tendulkar fell to his nemesis, Cronje, who returned 3-23. By now, the ball had been turning, and Kumble took charge: from 51-1, the visitors collapsed to 128-6, and victory seemed possible even as Kallis stood firm. But when debutant Kartik bowled into the rough from over the wicket, Mark Boucher swept him for four. Kartik tried to stick to his line, but Boucher tore into him, picking up three more fours. The end came quickly as Kallis stood resolutely at the other end.
Chapter Two: Bangalore
India’s winning streak was under threat now. There was also the threat of India being clean-swept the first time in a Test series at home (the 1980 Jubilee Test had been a standalone game). Yet, the news cycles revolved around Azharuddin’s inclusion in the Test XI after more than a year. India also dropped Agarkar for uncapped off-spinner Nikhil Chopra and even won the toss, but yet again they collapsed – this time for 158 – as all six South Africa bowlers got at least a wicket. Only Kumble (36 not out) showed real determination as he batted with “courage and good sense”.
South Africa went past India after losing just one wicket. Worse, one of the batters in that 161-run second-wicket stand was night-watch, Boje. Kumble bowled tirelessly for nearly 70 overs to take 6-143, but there was little his teammates could do on that slow turner. Both Kumble and Kartik spun the ball into the left-handers, while Chopra was unable to find turn. Sensing this, Cronje promoted Klusener after Kirsten made 79 and Boje 85. Klusener’s 97 was the highest score of the innings, while the right-handed Kallis (85) and Cullinan (53) also got runs. The South Africa innings began on the first evening and ended on the fourth morning. By the time they were bowled out, the lead had stretched to 321.
Almost predictably, India soon became 95-4, and the only thing that remained to be seen was whether they would finally get to 200. That they eventually made 250 was largely due to Azharuddin’s brutal 102 (13 fours, two sixes), the only hundred in the series from either side. However, once Azharuddin fell to “a wanton shot”, Boje (5-83) ran through to bowl India out for 250.
The aftermath
Sourav Ganguly replaced Tendulkar as the Indian captain and led them to a 3-2 win against South Africa. The two teams met again at the Coca-Cola Cup in Sharjah, where South Africa won again.
On April 7, 2000, a week after the Coca-Cola Cup final, Delhi Police Crime Branch revealed they had a recording of a conversation between Cronje and Sanjay Chawla, an Indian bookmaker. They implicated Cronje along with other teammates. The next day, Cronje rubbished these allegations (“I want to ensure every South African that I have made a hundred percent effort to win every match that I have played”). Three days later, he confessed to board supremo Ali Bacher that he had not been “entirely honest” about the affair. The board sacked Cronje with immediate effect.
In May, South Africa president Thabo Mbeki appointed a commission chaired by justice Edwin King to inquire into the matter. The King Commission enquiries began on June 7.
Azharuddin’s was among the names that came up: he had introduced Cronje to Mukesh Gupta on South Africa’s 1996/97 tour of India. Gupta had approached Cronje several times. Cronje had accepted some of these offers. On the India tour of 1999/00, the bookies were keen on South South Africa throwing the occasional game. Cronje approached Kallis, Boucher, Lance Klusener during the Tests. “The rebuffs were immediate, but I think they thought I was joking,” Cronje later admitted.
Ahead of the first ODI, in Cochin, Cronje lied to Gupta and Banjo Cassim about his teammates coming on board. South Africa lost the first match, though Cronje claimed to have “honestly tried to win the match”. After “intense, incessant nagging” from Gupta and Banjo Cassim, he agreed to throw the final ODI. Gibbs and Henry Williams had accepted his $15,000 offers: Gibbs would score 20 or fewer, while Williams would concede at least 50 from 10 overs. Unfortunately, Gibbs forgot the deal and went past that score. When he confessed, Cronje asked him to continue, and Gibbs duly smashed 74 in 53 balls. Williams broke down after 11 balls and took no further part in the match. Neither got their share. Both testified.
Until this point, Cronje had been a much-loved figure in India. The revelations changed everything. Cricket Talk, a popular cricket magazine covered the matter vividly. The text on the cover of one of them – You Too, Hansie? – summed up the anguish of the fans.
On October 11, the South African board banned Cronje for life from playing or coaching cricket. He died in a plane crash in 2002.
