Air India came to the rescue of the Sri Lanka-bound Indian cricket team, left in a lurch after a pilots' strike crippled the services of Jet Airways which was originally supposed to take the side to the island nation for a one-day tri-series.

They were supposed to fly by the Jet Airways whose services have been hit by the ongoing strike by its pilots, an Air India spokesman said.

Air India will operate a special flight from Chennai at 1100 hrs to reach Bangalore where it will pick up players including skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and R P Singh playing for the Air India team in the BCCI corporate trophy before leaving for Colombo.