India, Sri Lanka teams arrive for the first one-dayer

Kolkata, Feb 6 (UNI) The Indian team arrived in batches along with the Sri Lankan squad to a thunderous reception from thousands of cricket fans here today.

India and Sri Lanka clash on February 8 for the one-dayer at the Eden Gardens here.

The Indian players started arriving in batches since last night from various parts of the country while the Sri Lankans landed here at 1240 hours from Mumbai.

Munaf Patel came last night, while skipper Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Robin Uthappa and S Sreesanth reached here from Bangaluru this morning. Soon after offie Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag arrived from Delhi.

The Team management said all players in the 15-member squad, except Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan and Ajit Agarkar, were already in town. The three Mumbai cricketers were expected to arrive this evening.

With the BCCI shifting the match from Pune to the city with very little time left, an acute shortage of rooms has forced organisers to house the rival teams in two different hotels.

The Indian team reached the ground and had practice for about two hours. They mainly went through a fielding session under Coach Greg Chappell. While Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and Sreesanth took high catches in a batch, the next batch had Robin Uthappa, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh.

Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan also batted at the nets.

UNI