Leander Paes had once said that his ultimate dream is walking out from the underground tunnel into a football field, surrounded by roaring crowds.

It may be a little too late for India's Davis Cup captain to realise that, but no sooner did he have most of his team members back at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai on Thursday than a game of football wasn't far from his mind.

There were no underground tunnels, just the sweltering Mumbai heat; no roaring crowds, but only a few passers-by looking eagerly at the makeshift stands being erected at the stadium.

Rohan Bopanna and Karan Rastogi [Images] joined the team after losing their respective matches at the Abu Dhabi ITF tournament on Thursday and it was game on for Team India.

It was Rastogi and Paes against Vishal Uppal, Bopanna and Purav Raja, who had come down for training with the team.

Hailing from Kolkata, Paes is a natural at football. Uppal and Rasotgi weren't far behind either, as bicycle kicks and headers were traded across the net. The warm-up-cum-football session lasted a little longer than planned as team coach Nandan Bal also joined in.

Bal, who had arrived from Pune the same morning, was ribbed by the players. All broke into a howl when Bal slapped the ball past the net with his hand.

After the fun, it was back to business. Paes, who started practising for the upcoming tie against Pakistan (from April 7-9 in Mumbai) since last week, and his team trained till the light permitted.

Also read:
- Amritrajs going an ace up
- Paes primed for Davis duty

PICS: Deepti Patwardhan