Sammy-led West Indies team arrives in Kolkata

Kolkata: A 25-member West Indies contingent, including support staff, on Monday checked in here to play a three-day practice match and opening Test of the two-match series that will be swansong for the 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 today. The team arrived here in two batches one in the afternoon and the other in the evening. The Jadavpur University campus ground in Saltlake 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 tomorrow. "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 had washed out the India-Australia fifth ODI on October 26 as the BCCI shifted the venue to Kolkata. The JU Campus ground in Saltlake is an open ground and for the first time it would host an International team but there would not be any security issues, hosts 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 the West Bengal Police are looking into the security aspect and we are confident of a smooth show," he added. The Uttar Pradesh team would arrive tomorrow, 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 of America (USA) as a part of preparations for their tour of India. The cricketers were involved in 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 (WICB) president Dave Cameron has 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. Support staff: Ottis Gibson (Head Coach), Richie Richardson (Team Operations Manager), Andre Coley (Assistant Coach), CJ Clark (Physiotherapist), Hector Martinez Charles (Strength & Conditioning Coach), Richard Berridge (Video & Statistical Analyst), Virgil Browne (Massage Therapist), Adriel "Woody" Richard (Media Manager).