Tendulkar returns with Powar and Zaheer

MUMBAI: Sachin Tendulkar returned early on Monday morning from what's generally perceived to be his last tour of England as a cricketer along with teammates Zaheer Khan, Ramesh Powar and Wasim Jaffer.

The ace batsman, deprived of some well-deserved three-figure knocks by some poor umpiring decisions on the long tour, was whisked away by wife Anjali even as television cameras and scribes tried to corner him for some comments at the Mumbai airport.

Also returning were Khan and Powar, both of whom were part of both the Test and ODI sides that toured England, and Jaffer who was not part of the ODI squad but preferred to stay back after the end of the Test series to be with his in-laws.

Cricket manager Chandu Borde and selector Sanjay Jagdale also landed at Mumbai while captain Rahul Dravid and his predecessor Sourav Ganguly went to their respective homes in Bangalore and Kolkata directly from London, according to Cricket Board officials.

Borde described the tour 'as the best I have had the fortune to be part of.'

"Sachin was fantastic. Zaheer bowled very well and the entire team performed well," he said.

Borde, however, said that the team had not yet lodged an official complaint to the International Cricket Council on the poor umpiring decisions that India got but the captain was likely to mention these in his report.