Sachin Sena arrives in Lanka to cheer their heart out for Team Ind

Colombo, Aug 20 (UNI) Team India, if weather allows play, would have no death of support from the stand with a motley crew, dubbed ''Sachin Sena'', arriving here to cheer their heart out for the Men in Blue in the Unitech Cup series against Sri Lanka at the Singhalese Sports Club here.

A bunch of 90 people from Mumbai and its outskirts have arrived here and the man behind the concept, Pappu Sansgiri, believes the players now can feel home away from home.

''We would be giving the Lankan crowd a good run for their money and match them decibel for decibel. Of course we are upset that weather has not allowed a full match in the series but once the ball is set rolling, we will be screaming into our hosts' eardrums,'' he said.

Formed as an Indian answer to England's Barmy Army, the average age of the bunch is 50 and members range from writer, engineer, doctor and even singer.

The members include former President of the Maratha Sahitya Sammelan Subhash Bhende, who resides at Sahitya Sahabas apartment where Sachin Tendulkar lived with his parents before moving out.

All India Radio Singh Gopinath Powale, at 84, ''is perhaps the youngest member of the bunch,'' Mr Sansgiri said.

''Initially the idea was to start it from the World Cup early next year but later we thought why wait for that and don't start with the Sri Lanka tour, and here we are,'' he explained.

Sachin Jakadar of Sachin Travels came forward to complete cricket's marriage with tourism and the idea gained currency with good response from the Mumbaikars.

''We are determined not to let it die down and in fact we'll be in Kuala Lumpur where India plays a tri-series. In September, we'll fly to South Africa to finalise the trip for Team India's tour there and then you have the World Cup. We have our hands full in the coming months,'' Mr Jakadar said.

Mr Sansgiri, meanwhile, clarified that though it was called Sachin Sena, the bunch would be cheering for the entire team.

''Be it Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh or any other player, we''ll be screaming our heart out. But Sachin remains the heart of Indian cricket and so we called it Sachin Sena,'' he explained.

Despite cloud of doubt hanging over the tournament, the team members reached the SSC Ground today and were entertaining themselves playing with a tennis ball among themselves.

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