PTI

Kingston (Jamaica), May 11: Rahul Dravid's men will arrive here on Friday with hopes of a rare win in the West Indies but a booby trap awaits them at the very first bend down the road.

The visiting Indian team would have to travel to the extreme end of Jamaica to play a practice game against a local eleven on May 16. The distance from Kingston to Montego Bay, where the match is scheduled, is 200 km or equivalent to the distance of Haridwar from Delhi or Surat from Mumbai.

That the Jamaican squad have eight Test players in its ranks would be of little consolation to India as they would have to scoop itself out from Kingston and be marooned in Montego Bay for three days and then within 24 hours of arriving back in Kingston on Wednesday, they will take on West Indies in the first ODI.

It is a travel schedule which had been as much of a secret to the Indian players as for the scores of Indian media personnel who doubtlessly would now have to scurry to make last-minute air travel and hotel arrangements.

And it is nothing new. It's a goof-up which one has pretty much come to accept from the Indian Cricket Board. In Zimbabwe last year, the team was left stranded in Harare when it should have been in Bulawayo and later, in Bulawayo when it should have been knuckling down in Harare.