Rajkot (Gujarat), Nov 12 :Residents in Rajkot city were delighted to see their favorite Indian cricket players as the team arrived in the city on Wednesday for the first match of one-day series against England.

Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, batsmen Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag, pacer Zaheer Khan and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh arrived in the

city ahead of the first match of seven-match series to be played on Friday.

Locals in the city gathered outside the hotel where the players are staying to have a glimpse of their favourite players.

"Dhoni (Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni) is my favorite cricketer. We stay in Rajkot only, so we have come here to see him. We hope that we would

be able to see him again," said Anchal, a resident.

"I had seen Dhoni on television. So I really felt very happy after seeing him in front of me. I hope that India will definitely win. I love Dhoni," said Rajan Arora, another resident.

India''''s fielding Coach Robin Singh, Pacer Rudra Pratap Singh and Ishant Sharma, batsman Virat Kohli and Medium Pacer Munaf Patel along with Coach Gary

Kirsten reached Rajkot on Tuesday.

England is currently third in the rankings while India is fifth.

England won last year''''s home one-day series against India 4-3 after losing 5-1 in their previous series in India in 2006.

India will rest star batsman Sachin Tendulkar for the first three games of the series.

Following the match in Rajkot, the other games will be played at Indore on November 17th, Kanpur on November 20th, Bangalore on November 23rd, Cuttack on

November 26th, Guwahati on November 29th and New Delhi on December 2nd.

India sealed their first test series victory over top-ranked Australia in seven years on Monday.

England team is currently in Mumbai where they lost second warm up-match to a second-string Mumbai side on Tuesday.

The visitors won the first warm-up match on Sunday.

England team will also be playing two tests in Ahmedabad (December 11th-15th) and Mumbai (December 19th-23rd). (ANI)