Mumbai, Sept. 26 : There were the predictable scenes of joy and frenzy greeting the “Men in Blue” at Mumbai’s Sahar Airport on Wednesday morning, but a sidelight that stood out was the fluttering of Congress party flags rather than the Indian tricolour.

Politics, it seemed, made its presence felt in what was essentially a celebration of sporting achievement.

It was as if the who’s who of Maharashtra politics wanted to bask in the glory of a victory not of their own creation.

This is not surprising considering that no one felt that Team India would make its telling presence felt in this slam-bang version of cricket, having played only one previous Twenty20 match prior to the World Cup.

The powers that be at the Board of Control for Cricket (BCCI) were a most reluctant participant at the start, but on Wednesday, every one of the bigwigs sought to be in the limelight, offering Kudos and moolah to the once non-hopefuls.

The Men in Blue arrived at the Sahar Airport at 8:00 a.m. and were greeted by cricket lovers and Congress Party workers.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, their Cabinet colleagues, the BCCI top brass, including President Sharad Pawar, Vice Presidents Lalit Modi and Rajeev Shukla, Secretary Niranjan Shah and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar were on hand to greet, embrace and apply vermillion streaks to the players.

The champs, clad in white t-shirt, acknowledged the cheer of the roaring crowd, and security personnel were hard pressed in controlling the surge. (With inputs from ANI)