Good boys? Sachin, Zaheer and Yuvraj

Ahead of the NatWest final at Lord’s, the Indian cricket team were the choice items on the menu at a high-profile party in London on Thursday night.

The timing of the bash, two days before the England-Indian decider in the one-day series, surprised some onlookers.

While it could and will be argued that such a gathering will help to relax the players, others were more critical of the timing.

“The celebration should perhaps have come after the game on Saturday,” one guest told The Telegraph.

The host was Rajeev Shukla, the vice-president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) who is also the Indian side’s administrative manager in the one-day series.

“The long, but successful, tour of England is coming to an end and some distinguished people based in London were eager to meet the cricketers, which is why I organised the dinner reception,” said Shukla.

“The entire team was there and enjoyed the evening,” he assured journalists. “Everything went off well. Now the team is back to work and focused on winning the deciding game at Lord’s.”

The little-known restaurant, Scarlet Spice, was off the beaten track in east London.

A tycoon, despite possessing a satellite-navigated GPS (global positioning system) in his Bentley, took 30 minutes to track down the location.

“I arrived at 7.30pm but there was no one there till 8pm,” he complained. “The players did not arrive till 8.30pm. There were some heavy snacks going around but dinner was not served by 10pm when I left without eating.”

An employee at Scarlet Spice said: “The players ate sensibly. Some came with their wives and children. They had canapés and soft drinks. They left early and did not get into the heavy dinner. The VIPs stayed longer.”

Among those attending were steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal with son-in-law Amit Bhatia who apparently has hired a corporate box at Lord’s — the ultimate status symbol this week.

Kamal Nath, the commerce and industry minister, who happens to be in London, dropped in, as did officials of the high commission.

Other guests were ICC president-elect David Morgan; novelist Lord Jeffrey Archer, who is a keen supporter of Indian cricket, especially skipper Rahul Dravid — whom he considers to be the best batsman in the world; BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah; Veetee rice baron Moni Varma; curry king Sir Gulam Noon; London hostess Surina Narula; Anshu Jain, the head of global markets for Deutsche Bank; Fidelity head Arun Mehra; England legend and charity walker Sir Ian Botham; and former cricketers Farokh Engineer, Ravi Shastri and Dilip Doshi.

The Indian players were huddled at their own tables and did not engage in much small talk though they put up with being photographed as is the custom on such occasions.

Sachin Tendulkar was the centre of attention as were Dravid, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan.

One guest teased Dravid: “The players look so small. In the old days when Kapil Dev was around, there would be girls chasing the players and booze flowing like the other side’s runs. But this is a very sober occasion.”

Whether the party should have been held at all will become clearer after tomorrow’s clash.

“It will be a fight to the death,” was one prediction today.

Dravid and his boys will be comforted that England’s richest Indians are turning out in force to see and be seen. Their wives are wondering what to wear.