Mumbai: It was a shade after 11 pm on Wednesday that the Sourav Ganguly-captained Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) returned to the Trident Bandra-Kurla after over three hours of practice in Navi Mumbai.

The top-of-the-line Dr D.Y.Patil Sports Stadium there, incidentally, is a good 26 kms away from the team hotel. So, add a couple of hours of travelling.

Mobbed, as usual, Sourav couldn’t get away from the autograph and photograph-seekers. After obliging a few, in the lobby, he said: “Time to let me go... We have a pool session in a few minutes...”

After two very disappointing seasons, trainer Adrian le Roux, who once worked with Team India, just doesn’t want to leave anything to chance.

Impressed, one from the janata responded: “KKR is all fired up, that’s great...” Not one at a loss for words, Sourav replied with a smile: “Yeah, all we now need to do is to fire on the field!”

Opportunity No.1 will come on Friday night, in the IPL III’s opening match, against the Deccan Chargers, in Navi Mumbai.

It’s not official, but according to The Telegraph’s sources, five Test-playing nations are expected to find representation in the KKR XI.

Besides the seven Indians, the XI is set to include Brad Hodge (Australia), Owais Shah (England), Charl Langeveldt (South Africa) and Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka).

Langeveldt came on Wednesday evening, but didn’t train, getting time to recover from any effects of jet lag.

The biggest guns from overseas are to arrive from Monday, after the second match, and the first at home, against the Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Shane Bond, one learns, will be the first to report. He’ll be followed by Chris Gayle (March 17), David Hussey (March 25) and Brendon McCullum (April 1).

Mentor-consultant Wasim Akram, meanwhile, has fallen ill and didn’t attend the practice session. “He’s better,” team director Joy Bhattacharjya informed late on Wednesday.

Footnote: Bangladesh all-rounder Mashrafe Mortaza is still some way off from being fit for Test cricket. “For now, I’m only focusing on ODIs and T20,” he pointed out, thankful that he’s back on the field after knee surgery.