Indian team arrives in Hyderabad

The Indian team arrived in Hyderabad late in the night after a grueling tour of Australia [ Images ]. A large crowd gathered at Begumpet airport, braving the wintry chill, to accord a rousing welcome to their local hero VVS Laxman [ Images ] and other cricketers.

The India [ Images ]n team flew in from Sydney [ Images ], via Singapore, after a two-and-a-half month tour of Australia. The team had to make a detour to Hyderabad as their original plans changed after India lost the VB series finals 0-2 and did not have to play the third one in Brisbane [ Images ]. Hyderabad Cricket Association officials received the team, which was driven straight to Hotel Taj Krishna for night halt.

Sourav Ganguly [ Images ] answered newsmen's queries while other players were escorted into a bus by security personnel to reach their hotel.

On what went wrong in the finals: "We just did not play well in the finals. We could have performed much better."

On the tour: "Overall, it was a great tour for us except for the last two finals. Only towards the end, we faltered. Otherwise, we performed remarkably."

On performance of individual players: "Everyone in the team performed well. Particularly VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid [ Images ], Sachin Tendulkar [ Images ], Virender Sehwag [ Images ] and myself played well. Our young bowlers Irfan Pathan [ Images ] and Laxmipathi Balaji bowled well. Anil Kumble [ Images ] was impressive."

On forthcoming series against Pakistan: "I cannot say anything now. The team has just landed."

On security for Pakistan tour: "I will talk to BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya and discuss about the security aspects. Right now, I cannot say anything else on that issue. As far as we are concerned, we do not know what is going on. All I can say is that the Board has to answer our security concerns. But the tour is definitely on."

Three players from Tamil Nadu- Hemang Badani, Murali Kartik [ Images ] and Laxmipathi Balaji-went to Chennai from Singapore while the other players arrived in Hyderabad. They left for their respective places-Mumbai, Delhi [ Images ] and Kolkata-by morning flights on Tuesday.