India arrive for whirlwind tour

Everything about these five upcoming one-dayers,and one T20 match,seems chaotic. Mahendra Singh Dhoni unfurled the national flag in Chennai this morning,sang the national anthem,dashed off to the airport,did some duty-free perfume shopping in Colombo airport,took a short nap,and then rushed off to attend the trophy-unveiling function. He stood waiting for half an hour before heading to the dais with Mahela Jayawardene,only to realise that the trophy hadn’t arrived yet,and there would just be a symbolic handshake with his rival skipper to inaugurate the series.

A quick hello to the Indian High Commissioner at 6 pm — to hear about growing good relations between India and Sri Lanka and listen to some Hindi film songs — before Team India took a four-hour journey to Dambulla late in the evening. By the end,Dhoni just wanted his team to get a good night’s sleep and an organised practice session on Tuesday.

The itinerary of this series was in a state of flux for long — dates changed,venues altered — and the whole exercise looks a little pointless at the moment with rain threatening to play spoilsport.

All in all,walking the thin line between feeling rested and looking rusty,Dhoni’s boys head into the year’s first assignment on January 28 with just two practice sessions — one in either country.

Sri Lanka,on the other hand,have been nation-hopping. They played Zimbabwe,Bangladesh and Pakistan in succession,made an allowance for this India series in between,and will then head back to Pakistan for Test matches.

In this haphazard battle,being fought only for commercial reasons,it’s now up to the players to bail out the innocent cricket fan.