Reuters, New Delhi

India’s cricketers arrived from Australia on Thursday to a grand welcome after their one-day tri-series triumph over the top-ranked home team.

The players were flown by charter flight to the capital New Delhi on their return to Mumbai from Australia and were given a public reception at a packed Ferozshah Kotla stadium.

Thousands of fans turned up at Delhi airport and also at the stadium on a national holiday, cheering the team that clinched an exciting nine-run victory in the second game in Brisbane on Tuesday to wrap up the best-of-three finals series 2-0.

The win, rated among India’s best one-day efforts, helped the team sign off the tour in style amid a soured relationship with Australia after off spinner Harbhajan Singh was alleged to have made racist remark against all rounder Andrew Symonds.

Limited overs skipper Mahendra Dhoni thanked India’s cricket fans for supporting his young side through the controversies. ‘It was a tough tour,’ he said.

‘They way the players conducted themselves on and off the field was great. ‘Plenty happened off the field but we were entirely determined to keep our focus on the field.’

Plans to parade the players on an open top bus were dropped because they were very tired, denying fans the chance to give them a boisterous reception such as that accorded to last year’s victorious Twenty20 World Cup squad.

The Indian board distributed cheques worth about $2.5 million to winning tri-series squad.

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