Hove has an amusing connection to Indian history. During the First World War, a group of unconscious Indian soldiers, who were members of the Bengal Lancers, were brought to the Royal Pavilion in this port city and the luxury surrounding prompted them to think they had reached heaven, according to the local legend.
Decades down the line, Indian soldiers of a different nature – confident and ready to take on the world – will kick off their England campaign that might have far-reaching consequences in the cricketing history of the country. India will face Sussex in a four-day game, beginning here on Saturday.
True, the Indian cricketers are on a high after their 2-1 victory over South Africa in the recently concluded one-day series in Belfast, but Rahul Dravid's men cannot cling on to that result and a convincing show against one of the stronger county sides is mandatory.
Such a result is important to keep the Indians in a positive frame of mind as well as sending some strong signals to England. Indians have always known to be slow beginners on such long tours and they can ill afford to repeat the past act as it will jeopardise their preparations, done meticulously and with a lot of success so far.
The first practice match, with one more to go at Chelmsford next week, will give the team management a chance to fortify the arrangements before the tough days. The Indians are coming into this match after two days of rest and that has helped to recharge their batteries.
There are not much fitness concerns in the Indian camp and Zaheer Khan – who had picked up a groin injury before embarking on tour – showed in the series against South Africa that he had regained fitness. The challenge in front of him is to translate his good performance into the longer version of the game and his spells upfront will be vital in determining India's fortunes not in just this match, but in the coming months as well.
Kumble may play
The team management might take the option of giving Kerala paceman S Sreesanth an opportunity here as he had played just one game on this tour. The team think-tank is also expected to play veteran leg-spinner Anil Kumble and they might opt for the four-bowler policy that the management is likely to stick to during the rest of the England tour. Mumbai opener Wasim Jaffer too will return to the top of the tree and VVS Laxman is expected to be given a chance.
But it will not be an easy task for the Indians against Sussex, one of the top 10 county teams, and they have been doing well under the resolute leadership of Chris Adams.  Their strength lies in their bowing which has a great amount of variety and Saqlain Mushtaq is the leading cast. The Pakistan off-spinner has troubled Indian batsmen in the past and he has his former team-mate Mushtaq Ahmed – the leg-spinner was the bowling coach of Pakistan during the World Cup – for assistance. But it remains to be seen that whether Sussex will play both the spinners against a host of batsmen adept at playing spin.
Sussex also have a lively pace bowler in James Kirtely. The former England pace bowler, who had been under the shadow of illegal bowling action, has regrouped since and he is one the top performers in the county cricket.
Their batting has also some more than handy players like former Zimbabwe batsman Murray Goodwin.
Teams
(from): India: Rahul Dravid (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Kaarthick, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, VVS Laxman, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Ramesh Powar, S Sreesanth, Wasim Jaffer, Yuvraj Singh, Anil Kumble. Ranadeb Bose, Ishant Sharma.
Sussex: Chris Adams (Capt), Murray Goodwin, Richard Montogerie, Andy Hodd, Carl Hopkinson, James Kirtley, Jason Lewry, Chris Liddle, Robin Martin-Jenkins, Chris Nash, Ollie Rayner, Thomas Smith, Michael Thorney, Kuke Wright, Michael Yardy, Mushtaq Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.
Timings (IST): 1530 pm to 1730 pm, 1800 pm to 2000 pm and 2030 pm to close.