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Indians, Proteas land in Sharjah

Pradip K Bagchi and Ashok Tuteja in Sharjah

The Indian and South African cricket squads arrived here this afternoon to take part in the three-nation Coca-Cola Cup cricket tournament along with Pakistan. The tournament at Sharjah begins on March 22.

The two teams were given a warm welcome at Dubai international airport when they flew in from Bombay.

Indian skipper Saurav Ganguly and his South African counterpart Hansie Cronje declined to speak to the press.

"We will talk at the stadium after practice tomorrow," the two captains told reporters. Indian coach Kapil Dev also avoided comment. Both teams appeared tired after yesterday's keenly-fought match at Nagpur.

The two teams were driven straight from the airport to Holiday International hotel where they will be staying.

The Pakistani squad, led by ace wicket-keeper Moin Khan, is scheduled to arrive here tomorrow.

India take on South Africa in the opener on March 22 and face Pakistan the next day. All the matches will be day-night affairs and be held at the 25,000-capacity Sharjah Cricket Ground. The final is slated for March 31.

The winners will take home 50,000 US dollars; the runners-up 30,000 dollars. The third team will get 20,000 dollars.

There are several other individual prizes, including those for the man of the match (1000 dollars), man of the match in the final (1500 dollars), man of the series (3500 dollars), best bowler, best fielder and fastest fifty (1000 dollars each), most boundaries in a match, most sixes by a batsman, top scorer in the championship and top wicket-taker (1000 dollars each), and the 'player of the tournament' who will be given a car.

The organisers, the Cricketers' Benefit Fund Series is giving the stadium a facelift before the event. Two pitches are being prepared for the seven matches, including six league encounters, to be played.

The beneficiaries of this tournament are former seamer N G Nadkarni, current selection committee chairman C G Borde and former left-arm spinner Maninder Singh from India and skipper Moin Khan and Saeed Anwar from Pakistan. Anwar, who is injured, is out of the present squad. The CBFS will also contribute to the cricket development programme in South Africa.