Indian team arrives in London

Sachin Tendulkar was in great touch in Ireland © Getty Images

The Indian team arrived in London on Wednesday after a successful tour of Ireland, where they won the Future Cup defeating South Africa 2-1 in a three-match ODI series. They also won their one-off match against Ireland, while their Friendship Cup match against Pakistan was abandoned due to rain.

Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman, and Wasim Jaffer, the Test match specialists, joined the team ahead of the three-match Test series against England. The Indian team begin their tour with a warm-up match against Sussex at Hove from July 7-10.

Sachin Tendulkar, who was the Man of the Series at the Future Cup, scoring 200 runs at an average of 66.66, said the difficulties faced by the team in Belfast would help them on the tour. "Our Belfast experience will help because you won't get conditions worse than that. It was absolutely freezing and the conditions were tough. I've never encountered anything like this in my entire career. This is something we are not used to, and experiencing that just before the series against England is wonderful," Tendulkar told PTI.

Rahul Dravid, the India captain, praised the senior members of the squad for their role in the triumph against South Africa. "The senior players are the leaders in the team. Irrespective of whether you have a coach or not, the junior guys always look up to them and they are the ones who set the tempo. It's not just the captain but also four or five senior players who have got to set example for others to follow," he said.

"It [the win] meant a lot for the team. We had a few disappointments lately, so it was nice to win this. I was happy for the boys. They have been through a lot. They put in a lot of hard work so just for them to taste victory and enjoy success is good for them," he added.

The Indian team will face the England Lions in a second warm-up match from July 13-15, while the first Test begins at Lord's on July 19.