Mumbai: Nine members of the Indian cricket team, including skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar, left for South Africa in the wee hours here on Wednesday.
Apart from Dhoni and Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Pragyan Ojha, S Sreesanth, Wriddhiman Saha, Suresh Raina, Ishant Sharma and Team manager Ranjib Biswal also departed for Cape Town via Dubai for the three-match Test series beginning December 16.
Sehwag was supposed to leave with the first batch of the touring party members on December 6 but changed his plans as he was indisposed.
The first batch comprised of players Cheteshwar Pujara, Jaydev Unadkat and Umesh Yadav and coach Gary Kirsten.
Meanwhile, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman left for South yesterday.
The remaining members of the Test squad, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan and Murali Vijay who are busy playing the ODIs against New Zealand that conclude on December 10, would leave on December 12.
The three-Test series against South Africa commences on December 16 at Centurion.
