File picture of Sourav Ganguly carrying his shoes after the customs check in Auckland in December 2002

Calcutta: To avoid a repeat of the embarrassment faced on landing in New Zealand on the last tour (December 2002), when Sourav Ganguly and Harbhajan Singh were fined at the airport, manager Niranjan Shah could actually inspect the players’ cricket footwear before they set out for the upcoming visit.

“Clearly, the players have to be very careful both with the cleanliness of their used footwear and with their signed declarations on arrival in Auckland (on February 20),” a well-placed source told The Telegraph on Saturday.

Auckland had been the entry point the last time too.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), in fact, is likely to list the “hygiene” of used footwear and the need for pucca declarations as part of the dos for the Mahendra Singh Dhonis.

Dhoni and Co. will be spending around eight weeks in New Zealand, competing with the Black Caps in two Twenty20 matches, five ODIs and three Tests.

Sourav (captain then, now retired) and Harbhajan, it may be recalled, had each been slapped a $200 fine for incorrectly declaring that they were carrying three pairs of used footwear, instead of four, and bringing traces of grass on some of them.

The fines were imposed by New Zealand’s ministry of agriculture which mans the country’s entry points and, well, is unbelievably (some would say ridiculously) strict.

New Zealand had, at that point in time, been alarmed by the foot-and-mouth and the mad cow diseases, so checks for bio-security were more stringent.

“It was pure oversight, nothing more. In any case, it’s not unusual for used (cricket) footwear to have traces of some turf,” Sourav had then said.

Nathu Ram Choudhary, manager on that tour, did plead with the authorities to waive the fines as nothing had been done intentionally, but that fell on deaf ears.

That the India captain was one of the two being fined cut no ice either.

Instead, Choudhary was told that even New Zealand’s Prime Minister wouldn't be allowed to get away with used footwear which wasn’t clean!

According to the well-placed source, the “hygiene” bit came up after Friday’s selection committee meeting in Chennai, which was convened by the BCCI secretary, N. Srinivasan.

Three squads of 16 have been picked.

“Everybody had a laugh, with captain Dhoni saying all his cricket footwear, at least, would be new, thereby eliminating the chance of his being fined and embarrassed...”

While Sourav has quit, Harbhajan is the spin-spearhead this time. Hopefully, he hasn’t forgotten Auckland 2002.

The agriculture ministry’s bouncer on the last visit had been ominous, for the tour turned out to be disastrous. An incident-free landing this time would, perhaps, make for a happier visit.

So, fingers crossed.