The 1996 Pepsi Sharjah Cup was a triangular ODI cricket competition held in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates from 12 to 19 April 1996. It featured the national cricket teams of South Africa, Pakistan and India. Its official sponsor was Pepsi. The tournament was won by South Africa, which defeated India in the final.
The Pepsi Sharjah Cup was the second ODI tournament held after the 1996 Cricket World Cup, held immediately afterwards the 1996 Singer Cup in Singapore, which was won by Pakistan over Sri Lanka and India. The matches were held at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium in the emirate of Sharjah. The tournament had a round-robin series of matches, with each team playing the others twice.
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.[2]
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.[4]
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.[6] Vikram Rathour made his international debut in the tournament.
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.
| width=38% | Team | width=7% | P | width=7% | W | width=7% | L | width=7% | T | width=8% | NR | width=9% | NRR | width=9% | 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 |
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.[8] 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.[9]
South African fast-bowler Fanie de Villiers took the most number of wickets, taking 10 wickets at an average of 19.20.[10] Indian leg-spin bowler Anil Kumble followed with a haul of 8 wickets at an average of 26.50.[11]