Mumbai, Oct. 20: Ricky Ponting and his men arrived in India on Tuesday, ahead of their seven match one-day series here beginning from Sunday in Baroda.

The Australians landed amid tight security after the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena threatened to disrupt the visiting team’s stay in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, the Indian team began their net practice at the Bandra-Kurla Complex grounds here, sans openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, pacer Ishant Sharma and spinner Amit Mishra who are likely to join the team on Wednesday.

The men in blue appeared positive and began their practice with a game of football. After sweating it out for nearly 35 minutes, the players and the coaching staff settled for a routine net session.

Fast bowler Sudeep Tyagi, 22, of Uttar Pradesh, who is likely to make his debut against in the series, looked pretty comfortable in the presence of senior India players. The lad was part of the M.S. Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League.

The two teams will leave for Baroda on Friday, two days prior to their opening encounter.

The other matches are scheduled at Nagpur (October 28), Delhi (October 31), Mohali (November 2), Hyderabad (November 5), Guwahati (November 8) and Mumbai (November 11) with all these ties, barring the sixth one in Assam, to be day/night contests.