Seven Indian players leave for Australia

Mumbai: Seven members of the Indian Test squad, including Sachin Tendulkar, have left for Australia in a bid to get acclimatised to the conditions there ahead of their forthcoming tour Down Under.

Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Wriddhiman Saha and Pragyan Ojha boarded a connecting Singapore Airways flight for Melbourne from the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here late on Wednesday night.

The rest of the team, including skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has been rested for the ongoing ODI series against the West Indies, will leave for Australia from Chennai on December 12.

Seven Indian players, including batsmen Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman, left early for India's tour of Australia.

India are scheduled to play four Test matches, beginning December 26 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, besides two T20s and a triangular ODI series involving Sri Lanka.

The remaining Test matches are going to be held at Sydney (Jan 3 to 7), Perth (Jan 13 to 17) and Adelaide (Jan 24 to 28).

Ahead of the Test series, the team is scheduled to play two practice games against CA Chairman's XI to be held between December 15-16 and December 19-21.

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