Night-time is always an eventful and busy period at the international airports in Mumbai and Delhi,with all the various departure and arrival terminals buzzing with hordes of passengers and visitors. But the buzz around the 2C terminal around midnight on Wednesday was different. Indian cricketers were arriving in the two cities after having achieved unprecedented success in New Zealand after a 41-year hiatus,but only for a few days. With many of the IPL franchises already in South Africa,the players will have little time to savour the moment as the focus shifts from their Test triumph to the games shortest version in this summer of endless cricket. Usual scenes As a posse of security personnel struggled to keep the photographers and video cameras at some distance from the exit of the transfer lounge at the Indira Gandhi International airport,some passengers armed with mobile phones looked for vantage points to grab snapshots of their favourite cricketers. It turned out to be a long wait,but hardly frustrating. The anticipation heightened sooner than expected when the translucent glass doors opened just about enough for a stocky figure to emerge. Sehwag! quipped a Smart Alec as the man headed towards the taxi stand. That,as it turned out,was not the only prank played in the wee hours on Thursday. After word spread that the flight had landed,someone said the cricketers were going out from the other exit. Mediapersons and fans rushed towards the other gate only to find that the joke,this time,was on them. Amit Mishra was the first to emerge at 3 am,but even as he fought his way through the crowd,everyone turned their gaze to Ishant Sharma and the star of the series Gautam Gambhir,who scored 445 runs,including two centuries,in the three Tests. The left-handed opener was bombarded with questions but his defence was as impregnable as it had been against the Kiwi bowling. As Gambhirs car was being mobbed,it gave a relatively easy exit to Mahendra Singh Dhoni,who stole a cheeky run towards his SUV. Determined not to be outsmarted this time,the journalists took positions to ambush Virender Sehwag. It paid off as they managed to get an Im happy soundbyte from the opener before he was driven away. In Mumbai a little earlier,Zaheer Khan was the first to make his appearance,enjoying the loud but not unexpected reception. Tendulkar was next,as everyone,including the policemen,charged in to get a glimpse. Amidst the ensuing chaos,Tendulkar did manage to say a few words. Everything about the tour was special,and it turned out to be even more special as we won a series there after more than 40 years, he said. First-timer Dhawal Kulkarni,who was the last man out,seemed to freeze as the flashlights were focussed on him,and even made the cardinal mistake of stalling. He was engulfed with questions,which ranged from his experience on the debut tour to the clichéd sharing the dressing-room with Tendulkar query. The 20-year-old seamer answered as best he could,before sharing an emotional hug with his mother in the safe confines of his car.
