India and South Africa arrive in Kolkata

Kolkata:

Amid a thick security cover, India and South Africa teams arrived on Thursday evening for the second and final Test of the series to be held at Eden Gardens from February 14-18.

Some of the Team India players, including senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar, however are yet to join the squad, while a full strength South African side checked into a city hotel in separate buses.

"Sachin, Sreesanth and Zaheer Khan will join the squad tomorrow while Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and Dinesh Kartick will arrive late in the night," said Team India's local manager.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was seen sitting on the last row of the bus. With the Kolkata Police maintaining a tight security cover, most of the Indian players could not be spotted.

No mediaperson was allowed inside the hotel, while there was a dummy Team India bus as a security measure.

Playing without their mainline players Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and VVS Laxman, India lost by an innings and six runs in the last Test in Nagpur.

Down 0-1 in the two-match series, India now desperately need to win at the Eden to retain their No 1 status in ICC Test rankings.

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