Team India arrive at Sachin's happy hunting ground to face NZ

The Indian cricket team arrived in Ahmedabad on Monday for their first match of the three-Test series against visitors New Zealand, starting November 4 at the Sardar Patel stadium in Motera.

The players including Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Rahul Dravid, V V S Laxman, coach Gary Kirsten, Virender Sehwag, Suresh Raina, spinner Pragyan Ojha and others arrived at the Ahmedabad airport on Monday morning.

The Indian team practiced at the stadium in the afternoon.

For Tendulkar this venue has always been a happy hunting ground. He had scored his career's first double century at Motera stadium against New Zealand in 1999.

He also celebrated his 20 years in Test cricket at the same stadium by scoring a century against Sri Lanka in November 2009.

The batting maestro, who is just one ton short of scoring his 50th Test century, will be looking forward to setting up one more record during the Test match in Ahmedabad.

Tendulkar has 49 Test and 58 half centuries, and has the highest number of runs 14,240, in the longer format of the game.

Cricket-loving public in the United States will now be able to watch India-New Zealand series live on TV, following a deal between Nimbus Communications and US-based cable services provided Comcast Corporation.

The launch of the 24-hour NEO Cricket channel in the US will enable Comcast customers to watch all international and domestic cricket matches played in India 'live', a Nimbus release said.

The immediate matches that people of the US will see are India's upcoming home series of three Tests and five ODIs against New Zealand and the 2010-11 Ranji Trophy competition that began on Monday.