It’s not uncommon in this country, in this season, to neatly split your Diwali stockpile of firecrackers between the traditional festivities and an anticipated Indian victory on a cricket pitch. And both Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni — first to pad up in adjoining nets at the Bandra Kurla Complex where the team assembled ahead of the seven-match ODI series against the Australians — know a thing or two about lighting up the big stage.

Tendulkar had kickstarted celebrations around this time last year when he went past Brian Lara for the most runs in Test cricket. Dhoni himself had lit up another Diwali in Jaipur four seasons ago with his rocket-launching 183 against the Lankans.

Tuesday’s practice session was more sparklers than rockets, a light warm-up before the gruelling series ahead.

Even though there has been a lot of talk surrounding the irrelevance of lengthy, bilateral one-day contests, this series will draw a fair bit of attention, not least because of waning interest in the Champions League, where all three Indian sides made early exits.

On-field tussles between Indian and Australian cricket teams have anyway becoming increasingly tense and lively affairs. And with the Indian team still involved in the race to the No 1 spot (they need a 5-2 win), they looked adequately keen with almost the full team, barring Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra, turning up for practice just two hours after the Australians arrived in the city.

Though training appeared more in the warm-up mode — with team members playing football for more than an hour of the two they spent on field — it concluded with a light session of bowling and batting.

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