The 1996 Pepsi Sharjah Cup was a triangular ODI cricket competition held in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

United Arab Emirates

The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

 from April 12 to 19, 1996. It featured the national cricket teams of South Africa, Pakistan and India. Its official sponsor was Pepsi

Pepsi

Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...

. The tournament was won by South Africa, which defeated India in the final.

Tournament

The Pepsi Sharjah Cup was the second ODI tournament held after the 1996 Cricket World Cup

1996 Cricket World Cup

The 1996 Cricket World Cup, also called the Wills World Cup after its official sponsors, was the sixth edition of the tournament organized by the International Cricket Council . It was the second World Cup to be hosted by Pakistan and India, and for the first time by Sri Lanka...

, held immediately afterwards the 1996 Singer Cup

1996 Singer Cup

The 1996 Singer Cup was a triangular cricket tournament held between April 1 and April 7, 1996 in Singapore. The competition featured the national cricket teams of India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The tournament was won by Pakistan, which defeated Sri Lanka in the final on April 7.-Venue:The 1996...

 in Singapore

Singapore

Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...

, which was won by Pakistan over Sri Lanka and India. The matches were held at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium

Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium

The Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium is in the emirate of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. It was originally constructed in the early 1980s and has been much improved over the years...

 in the emirate

Emirate

An emirate is a political territory that is ruled by a dynastic Muslim monarch styled emir.-Etymology:Etymologically emirate or amirate is the quality, dignity, office or territorial competence of any emir ....

 of Sharjah. The tournament had a round robin series of matches, with each team playing the others twice.

Pakistan

• Aamir Sohail (captain)
• Waqar Younis
  Waqar Younis
  Waqar Younis Maitla is a former Pakistani right arm fast bowler in cricket and widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time...
  
  
• Inzamam-ul-Haq
  Inzamam-ul-Haq
  Inzamam-ul-Haq , also known as Inzamam, nicknamed Inzy, is a former Pakistan international cricketer who was national captain between 2003 and 2007. He is a right-handed batsman who has been regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of his era...
  
  
• Rashid Latif
  Rashid Latif
  Rashid Latif is a former Pakistani wicket keeper and a right handed batsman who represented the Pakistani cricket team in Test cricket and One Day International matches, between 1992 and 2003. He also served as the captain of the Pakistan cricket team in 2003...
  
   (wicket-keeper)
• Ata-ur-Rehman
  Ata-ur-Rehman
  Not to be confused with Prof. Atta ur RahmanAta-ur-Rehman is a Pakistani cricketer who played in 13 Tests and 30 ODIs from 1992 to 1996. He is tall and well built, bowling right-arm fast medium with a good control of line and length and the ability to move the old ball...
  
  
• Basit Ali
  Basit Ali
  Basit Ali is a former Pakistani cricketer who played in 19 Tests and 50 ODIs from 1993 to 1996. He was recognized by many to have a similar batting style as Javed Miandad. A right-hander, he has the relatively uncommon statistic of having a higher ODI than Test batting average...
  
  
• Saeed Anwar
  Saeed Anwar
  Saeed Anwar is a former Pakistani opening batsman. A left-hander, Anwar is most notable for scoring 194 runs against India in Chennai in 1997, then the highest, and now the joint second highest individual score in a One Day International.-Personal life:...
  
  
• Aaqib Javed
  Aaqib Javed
  Aaqib Javed is a Pakistani cricketer and coach. He was a right-handed medium-fast pace bowler with the ability to swing the ball both ways. He played 22 Tests and 163 One Day Internationals for Pakistan between 1988 and 1998.He was educated at Islamia College Lahore.Aaqib's best performances in...
  
  
• Mushtaq Ahmed
  Mushtaq Ahmed
  Mushtaq Ahmed is a retired Pakistani cricketer who specialised as a leg spin bowler. He was known for his hard-to-pick googly. He memorably trapped Graeme Hick in front with one during the 1992 World Cup final. He was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1997...
  
  
• Ijaz Ahmed
  Ijaz Ahmed
  Ijaz Ahmed was a Pakistani cricketer who played 60 Tests and 250 One Day Internationals for Pakistan over a period from 1986 to 2001...
  
  
• Rameez Raja
  Rameez Raja
  Rameez Hasan Raja is a former Pakistani right handed batsman in cricket, who represented the Pakistan cricket team during the 1980s and 1990s. He also worked as captain of the national team...
  
  
• Saqlain Mushtaq
  Saqlain Mushtaq
  Saqlain Mushtaq is a Pakistani cricketer, regarded as one of the finest off spin bowlers of all time.He is best known for pioneering the "doosra", which he employed to great effect during his career...
  
  
• Salim Malik
• Mohammad Akram
  Mohammad Akram
  Mohammad Akram is a Pakistani right arm fast-medium bowler in cricket, he plays for Surrey County Cricket Club. He played in 9 Test matches and 23 One Day International matches for Pakistan between 1995–1996 and 2000-2001.He is 6'2 tall and Akram is nicknamed Haji...
  
  

Pakistan named a 14-player side, unchanged from the squad that won the 1996 Singer Cup. Intikhab Alam

Intikhab Alam

Intikhab Alam Khan is a retired Pakistani cricketer who played in 47 Tests and 4 ODIs from 1959 to 1977. He also played in English county cricket for Surrey between 1969 and 1981....

 served as the team coach, and Dan Kiesel

Dan Kiesel

Dan Kiesel is an Israeli-born sports physiotherapist and osteopath who has worked as a trainer and physiotherapist for the national cricket teams of many countries, most notably Sri Lanka and Pakistan.-Education:...

 as the team physiotherapist.

South Africa

• Hansie Cronje
  Hansie Cronje
  Wessel Johannes "Hansie" Cronje was a South African cricketer and captain of the South African national cricket team in the 1990s...
  
   (captain)
• Andrew Hudson
  Andrew Hudson
  Andrew Charles Hudson was a South African Test and ODI cricketer. The right-handed batsman played 35 Tests and 89 One Day Internationals for South Africa in the 1990s. His career spanned 16 consecutive summers, playing for both his country and his province KwaZulu-Natal...
  
  
• Fanie de Villiers
  Fanie de Villiers
  Petrus Stephanus de Villiers , South Africa), was a cricketer who played 18 Tests and 83 One Day Internationals for South Africa as a right arm fast-medium bowler and right hand batsman between 1992 and 1998.De Villiers debuted in first-class cricket in 1985-86 for Northern Transvaal B...
  
  
• Daryll Cullinan
• Dave Richardson (wicket-keeper)
• Pat Symcox
  Pat Symcox
  Patrick Leonard Symcox played 20 Tests and 80 One Day Internationals for South Africa in the 1990s and played provincial cricket for the Natal Dolphins in Durban....
  
  
• Gary Kirsten
  Gary Kirsten
  Gary Kirsten is a former South African cricketer, and the World Cup winning coach of the Indian cricket team. He played 101 Test matches and 185 One-day internationals for South Africa between 1993 and 2004, mainly as an opening batsman...
  
  
• Paul Adams
  Paul Adams (cricketer)
  Paul Regan Adams is a former South African cricketer, a chinaman bowler who played for the national team sporadically since the 1990s. Meanwhile, his first class cricket career registered 412 wickets....
  
  
• Brian McMillan
  Brian McMillan
  Brian Mervin McMillan played 38 Tests and 78 One Day Internationals for South Africa from 1991 to 1998...
  
  
• Shaun Pollock
  Shaun Pollock
  Shaun Maclean Pollock is a retired South African cricketer who is considered a bowling all-rounder. From 2000 to 2003 he was the captain of the South African cricket team, and also played for Africa XI, World XI, Dolphins and Warwickshire. He was also chosen as the Wisden Cricketer of the Year in...
  
  
• Craig Matthews
  Craig Matthews
  Craig Russell Matthews is a former South African cricketer who played in eighteen Tests and fifty six ODIs from 1991 to 1997.-References:...
  
  
• Jonty Rhodes
  Jonty Rhodes
  Jonathan Neil "Jonty" Rhodes is a former South African Test and One Day International cricketer who played for the South African cricket team between 1992 and 2003.Rhodes was born in Pietermaritzburg, Natal Province, South Africa...
  
  
• Derek Crookes
  Derek Crookes
  Derek Norman Crookes in Mariannhill, Natal is a former South African cricketer and played 32 One Day Internationals for South Africa from 1994 to 2000. In domestic cricket he played for Natal, Gauteng, Easterns and the Highveld Lions....
  
  
• Jacques Kallis
  Jacques Kallis
  Jacques Henry Kallis is a South African cricketer. As an all-rounder he is a formidable right-handed batsman and fast-medium swingbowler. He is one of the greatest all-rounders of all time, being the only cricketer in the history of the game to hold more than 12,000 runs and 250 wickets in both...
  
  

Bob Woolmer

Bob Woolmer

Robert Andrew Woolmer was an international cricketer, professional cricket coach and also a professional commentator...

 served as the team coach. Cassim Docrat was the team manager; Craig Smith was the physiotherapist and Paddy Upton

Paddy Upton

Patrick Anthony Howard Upton, known as Paddy Upton is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer. He has worked as the physical fitness trainer for the South Africa cricket team and the rugby team of Western Cape Province. He is the current mental conditioning coach of the Indian national...

 worked as the exercise specialist.

India

• Mohammad Azharuddin
  Mohammad Azharuddin
  Mohammad Azharuddin also known as Azhar, is an Indian politician and former cricketer. He was an accomplished batsman and captained the Indian cricket team for much of the 1990s, until his involvement in a match-fixing scandal forced him into retirement...
  
   (captain)
• Sachin Tendulkar
  Sachin Tendulkar
  Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is an Indian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen in the history of cricket. He is the leading run-scorer and century maker in Test and one-day international cricket. He is the only male player to score a double century in the history of ODI cricket...
  
   (vice-captain)
• Javagal Srinath
  Javagal Srinath
  Javagal Srinath is a former Indian cricketer. He was a frontline fast bowler for the Indian cricket team until his retirement, being the second Indian pace bowler after Kapil Dev to take 200 Test wickets. One ball that he bowled during the 1996 tour of South Africa measured...
  
  
• Ajay Jadeja
  Ajay Jadeja
  Ajaysinhji Daulatsinhji Jadeja was born on 1 February 1971 in royal rajput family of Jamnagar, Gujarat. He was a regular in the Indian cricket team between 1992 and 2000, playing in 15 Test matches and 196 One Day Internationals. His cricketing achievements were overshadowed by a 5 year ban for...
  
  
• Anil Kumble
  Anil Kumble
  Anil Kumble is a former Indian cricketer and captain of the Indian Test cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler and a right-hand batsman. He is currently the leading wicket-taker for India in both Test and One Day International matches...
  
  
• Sanjay Manjrekar
  Sanjay Manjrekar
  Sanjay Vijay Manjrekar is a former Indian cricketer. He has a batting average of 37.14 in his 37 Tests between 1987/88 and 1996/97, as opposed to an overall first-class average of 55...
  
  
• Venkatesh Prasad
  Venkatesh Prasad
  Bapu Krishnarao Venkatesh Prasad is a former Indian cricketer. He is the bowling coach for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, having formerly performed the same role for the Indian cricket team from 2007 to 2009. He made his debut in 1996...
  
  
• Nayan Mongia
  Nayan Mongia
  Nayan Ramlal Mongia is a former Indian cricketer. He played as a right-handed batsman and a wicketkeeper. Currently, he is a cricket analyst....
  
   (wicket-keeper)
• Aashish Kapoor
  Aashish Kapoor
  Aashish Rakesh Kapoor is a former Indian cricketer who played in 4 Tests and 17 ODIs from 1994 to 2000. He was member of the 1996 World Cup Squad but was dropped and was never able to make it back to ODI after 2000....
  
  
• Vikram Rathour
  Vikram Rathour
  Vikram Rathour is a former Indian cricketer who played in 6 Tests and 7 ODIs from 1996 to 1997. He was a right-handed opening batsman.Rathour was a prolific run scorer at the first class level,scoring 11473 runs at an average of 49.66 in 146 matches.His List A career was more modest,with him...
  
  
• Venkatapathy Raju
  Venkatapathy Raju
  Venkatapathy Raju came into the Indian side in 1989–90 after capturing 32 wickets in the domestic season. He made his Test and One Day International debut in the tour of New Zealand. When sent in as a night-watchman in his first Test innings, he batted for more than two hours for 31 runs while six...
  
  
• Navjot Singh Sidhu
  Navjot Singh Sidhu
  Navjot Singh Sidhu is former Indian cricket star . After retirement from cricket Navjot Singh Sidhu took up television commentary, and politics. He was later forced to resign from his political position because he was convicted of homicide.-Biography:...
  
  
• Prashant Vaidya
  Prashant Vaidya
  Prashant Vaidya is a former Indian cricketer. He played domestic cricket for Bengal and played four One Day Internationals for India in 1995-96.-References:...
  
  
• Rahul Dravid
  Rahul Dravid
  Rahul Sharad Dravid , is a cricketer in the Indian national team, of which he has been a regular member since 1996. He was appointed as the captain of the Indian cricket team in October 2005 and resigned from the post in September 2007. Dravid was honoured as one of the top-five Wisden Cricketers...
  
  

India named a 14-player side unchanged from the side it fielded in the 1996 Singer Cup. Sandeep Patil

Sandeep Patil

Sandeep Madhusudan Patil is a former Indian cricketer, Indian national age group cricket manager and former Kenya national team coach, who made the minnows reach the semi-final of the 2003 World Cup. He was a hard-hitting middle order batsman and an occasional medium pace bowler...

 served as the team coach-cum-manager. 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
	4	4	0	0	0	+1.67	8
	4	1	3	0	0	-0.53	2
	4	1	3	0	0	-1.15	2

Matches

Final

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. 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.

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