"Soccer is the most popular game," he tells me seriously, before adding
that despite the government's best efforts, the national team languishes
outside the top 100 in the FIFA rankings. When it comes to national
sporting icons, you have to look towards badminton - remember the famous
Sidek brothers? - and squash, where Nicole David now heads the women's
rankings. They also have a handy hockey team, once coached by Australian
legend Terry Walsh.

Legends from a different sport await me as I arrive at the Oval. Sachin
Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid are first into the nets when India arrive for a
practice session, and they're soon followed by legends-in-the-making like
Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Virender Sehwag. RP Singh has a fine stint early
on to do his chances of inclusion in the XI no harm at all, and Sreesanth
also bowls some nippy stuff to Dhoni as the players knuckle down.

In an adjacent net, Suresh Raina bats with a stump on a concrete pitch, as
Ian Frazer throws a plastic ball down at just short of a length. More
often than not, Raina is nicely in line, and able to work the ball away
off his hips or square on the onside. And later, as the sun goes down and
the lights shine bright, he's to the fore again as the team goes through
its fielding drills. After weeks of preparation - both in the form of
camps and team-bonding exercises - the team's wait is nearly over. As they
would say in the paddock at Sepang, it's time for the flag to drop, and
the bullshit to stop.