The vanquished Indian cricket team, barring a couple of players, traced its way back to home, drawing curtains on a disastrous Australian tour during which it lost more than it gained.

As soon as Sri Lanka pipped Australia at the post in Melbourne last night, the reservation plans were put afoot and the players lost little time in leaving for home on Saturday.

The players with bases in Mumbai and south India -- Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Rohit Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Ravichandran Ashwin and the entire support staff -- reached Mumbai and via Chennai.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar and Rahul Sharma reached to Delhi.

India had raised hopes for making it to the finals of the one-day series with an astonishing chase of 321 in 36.4 overs against Sri Lanka at Bellerive Oval, Hobart earlier this week.

The Indians had finally liberated themselves on an otherwise suffocating three-month trip to Australia during which they were blanked 4-0 in the Test series and claimed just two matches in the triangular series.

Batsmen and bowlers suffered collective failures and only Virat Kohli, and to a lesser extent Umesh Yadav and Vinay Kumar, redeemed themselves during the debilitating tour.

The Indians, after a few days rest, would head for Bangladesh to play the Asia Cup, due between March 13-22.

Post Asia Cup, it would be time for the fifth edition of Indian Premier League (IPL), starting April 4.