England players arrive in Chennai

CHENNAI: Overcoming the terror scare, the England team returned here on Monday night in two batches to resume their tour which was interrupted by the Mumbai carnage. The full-strength 16-member team led by Kevin Pietersen landed here from the UAE. The first batch reached here from Abu Dhabi followed by another from neighbouring Dubai within 20 minutes of each other. The contingent consists of 28 people, including
support staff.

The team, which had left India on November 28 after abandoning the last two of the seven-match ODI series in the wake of the terror attacks, will play the first Test here from Thursday at the MA Chidambaram stadium which replaced Mumbai as the venue.  The second Test is scheduled to be held at Mohali from December 19 although England has to formally confirm it.

Tight security arrangements had been made at the airport for the arrival of the team which got the final go-ahead to tour India late Sunday night following the security clearance from the England and Wales Cricket Board’s security advisor Reg Dickason. Immediately upon arrival, the team was taken out of the airport from a separate gate and driven straight to the hotel where fool-proof security cover had been provided. The English players are scheduled to have a practice session on Tuesday and will get just two days to get acclimatised to the conditions before the first Test gets underway.
Dhoni & Co sweat it out

Meanwhile, India players, except for off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, had a rigorous practice session on Monday afternoon. Sachin Tendulkar and Ishant Sharma were late by about 15 minutes in joining their teammates at the 150-minutes practice session that started at 2 pm.