MUMBAI, (Reuters):

INDIA'S TRIUMPHANT Twenty20 World Cup squad arrived home yesterday to a huge victory parade with hundreds of thousands of joyous fans braving rain to cheer their heroes.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his teammates were greeted by the region's chief minister at Mumbai's airport before being taken on an open-top bus to the Wankhede stadium for a reception hosted by the national cricket board. Elaborate security measures were in place on the 35-kilometre journey through busy Mumbai roads, which took more than four hours.

India beat arch-rivals Pakistan by five runs in a thrilling final in Johannesburg on Monday, a victory to compare with their upset 1983 World Cup final win over West Indies.

Big win

"I think when we won we were very happy and said it was big. But we realise this is not only big for us but for all the people who came and waited despite the rain," Dhoni said at the function.

The national team had been criticised after their flop in this year's World Cup in the Caribbean and began as rank outsiders in the Twenty20 event with Dhoni named captain after Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and Saurav Ganguly opted out.

"When there is not much expectation, your determination to win goes up. From the moment we landed (in South Africa) we just wanted to go out there and enjoy," said Dhoni.

"We took it match by match and were there in the final. For us it was a challenge."

The flamboyant wicketkeeper-batsman was named one-day captain for home series against Australia and Pakistan after Dravid's sudden resignation as skipper this month.

The Indian board gave the team a win bonus of US$3 million and made a special cash award for batsman Yuvraj Singh, who hit six sixes in one over in a match against England.

Yuvraj was also presented with a Porsche 911 car by a senior board official.

Most of the players will immediately return to the squad for the seven-match one-day series against Australia which starts on Saturday.