It was at Pietermaritzburg station on a cold night in 1893 that the 23-year-old Gandhi, working in South Africa as a lawyer, was thrown out of a whites-only first-class train compartment because of the colour of his skin.

The incident moved Gandhi to take up the fight against racial discrimination in South Africa before returning home to lead India to freedom from British rule in 1947.

``We are very happy to make this trip. We are proud as Indians. We are proud of him,'' India captain Sourav Ganguly said.

The players took the Gandhi memorial train, drawn by the same steam engine used in 1893, and attended the unveiling of a stone plaque at the spot where Gandhi fell on the platform.

Ela, Gandhi's granddaughter and eminent South African social worker, said the event would further help spread the message of peace and equality among people around the world.

``It is important we take the message as widely as possible,'' she told reporters. ``The reality is sports is in everybody's life. The cricket team coming here has given a lot of publicity and this will certainly inspire a lot of people.''

The 21 years Gandhi spent working as a lawyer in South Africa and working for the under-privileged also inspired Nelson Mandela, the former South Africa president.

Gandhi's statue was unveiled in a prominent square in Pietermaritzburg in 1993 to mark the centenary of him being thrown out of the train and the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa.

India's leading batsman Sachin Tendulkar missed the trip because he was consulting a doctor to get treatment on a bruised left hand but which is not thought to be serious.