World Champions Australian Cricket team arrives

Bangalore, Sep 26 (UNI) World Cricket Champions in both One Day International and Test format the Australian team was accorded traditional and warm welcome when they arrived in the city here today.

The Australian team members, led by skipper Ricky Ponting, were given traditional welcome by the staff members of a star hotel, in which they would stay, by garlanding and offering 'Tilak' on the forehead of every player. A tight security was thrown around the team at the time of arrival.

The Australians have arrived to the city to play first One Day International day and night match on September 29 against the spirited Indian team which was in high esteem following a stunning victory in the just concluded Twenty-20 world championship against Pakistan in South Africa.

The Australia will play seven ODI's and one Twenty-20 match against the hosts during their stint in India which would conclude on October 20.

The Australians would start their campaign in Bangalore on Saturday in their first match in the day-night match at the Chinnaswamy stadium for which tickets had been already sold out.

Following is the itinerary: 1. Bangalore, KSCA stadium (Sep 29 D/N 2.30 pm IST), 2. Kochi, Nehru Stadium (Oct 2, 9 am), 3.

Hyderabad, Rajiv Gandhi stadium-Hyderabad, (Oct 5, 3.30 pm), 4.

Chandigarh, Sector-16 stadium (Oct 8, 3.30 pm), 5. Vadodara, IPCL Sports Complex (Oct 11, 3.30 pm), 6. Nagpur, Vidarbha CA Ground (Oct 14, 3.30 pm), 7. Mumbai, Wankhede Stadium (Oct 17, 9 am).

Twenty20 International: Mumbai, Brabourne stadium (Oct 20).

UNI