India and Australia players in flight scare

The Australian team and most members of the Indian team suffered a scare early in the day and a frustrating wait for several hours after a bird hit their plane as it was preparing to take off from Nagpur.

Those seated aboard Jet Airways flight 9W 0112 heard a loud bang as the aircraft taxied down the runway and were left wondering what had caused the sound. Shortly after the plane took off the pilot announced that a bird had hit the right engine of the aircraft, and though all functions of the plane were working normally, it was decided that a precautionary landing would be made in Nagpur.

The plane, which left at the scheduled time of 8.55am, was forced to return to the tarmac and passengers on the plane described the experience as "scary." "It's not a big issue and no one panicked as a plane being hit by a bird is a common phenomenon and the pilot decided to land again for a technical check-up," an official said.

Passengers had to remain seated for approximately half an hour while the plane was examined on the tarmac. Once it was decided that a replacement aircraft would be flown in to transport the teams from Nagpur to Mumbai, the passengers were allowed to disembark. A replacement aircraft was then flown in from Mumbai and eventually departed at 2.15pm.

The players arrived at their hotel in south Mumbai a little after 5pm and appeared tired as they were received in traditional fashion by hotel staff. The unexpected and unavoidable delay had taken some toll. Some of India's players - Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Murali Kartik - had arrived in Mumbai late on Sunday night.