West Indies team arrives in Kolkata

A 25-member West Indies contingent, including support staff, checked in at Kolkata on Monday to play a three-day practice match and the opening Test of the two-match series that will be the swansong for batting great Sachin Tendulkar.

"After 16-hours of flying, we have landed on Indian soil," skipper Darren Sammy tweeted after landing in Mumbai in the wee hours of Monday.

The team arrived in Kolkata in two batches, one in the afternoon and another in the evening.

The Jadavpur University campus ground in Salt Lake will host the three-day practice match against Uttar Pradesh CA, from October 31.

With the ground still wet because of Saturday's unprecedented downpour, the team is likely to skip practice on Tuesday.

"We are just settling down and are yet to know about the details," the team media manager said.

The match was originally scheduled at the Barabati stadium, but heavy rains in Cuttack washed out the India-Australia fifth ODI on October 26 and the Board of Control for Cricket in India shifted the venue to Kolkata.

The JU Campus ground in Salt Lake will be hosting an international team for the first time, but there will not be any security issues, the host Cricket Association of Bengal secretary, Subir Ganguly, asserted.

"When Sourav Ganguly was in his prime we had hosted many matches there and did not have any trouble. Both the Kolkata Police and West Bengal Police are looking into the security aspect and we are confident of a smooth show," he added.

The Uttar Pradesh team will arrive on Tuesday, the local manager said.

The opening Test of the two-match series will be held at the Eden Gardens from November 6-10.

The team will also play a three-match ODI series against India.

The West Indies cricket team trained for a week in Orlando, United States, as a part of its preparation for the India tour.

The preparation included team building exercises as well as interaction with Jamaican sports psychologist Dr Jason Scott Hamilton, who has worked with them for the last six months.

"We want to create a culture of unity, winning and overall success. We are not saying you're not going to lose games -— every team will lose games -— but it is how we lose. We should always go down to the end in every game," West Indies Cricket Board president Dave Cameron said.

After the tour of India, the West Indies will travel to New Zealand for three Tests, five one-dayers and two T20 Internationals.

Squad:

Darren Sammy (C), Tino Best, Darren Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sheldon Cotterrell, Narsingh Deonarine, Kirk Edwards, Chris Gayle, Veerasammy Permaul, Kieran Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Marlon Samuels, Shane Shillingford and Chadwick Walton.

Image: Darren Sammy

Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images