From Delhi Airport To Wankhede Stadium, T20 World Cup Heroes Get Rousing Welcome

Five anxious days of wait in Barbados were more than offset by a rousing reception back home, as the victorious Indian men's cricket team was welcomed by thousands of jubilant fans in Delhi and Mumbai on Thursday, July 4. (Highlights | Full T20 WC Coverage)

The reclaiming of the elusive ICC T20 World Cup trophy was celebrated with unparalleled fanfare, starting with the arrival at Delhi airport early morning and ending with a grand ceremony at the Wankhede Stadium in the night.

Weary from a 16-hour flight aboard the Air India special charter flight AIC24WC -- Air India Champions 24 World Cup -- Rohit Sharma and his men made their way out of the Indira Gandhi International Stadium amid a steady monsoon drizzle. But braving the rain, hundreds of fans were there to lift the team's spirits, chanting their names and waving the tri-colour.

This was followed by a visit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence. Accompanied by BCCI president Roger Binny and secretary Jay Shah, the squad, including outgoing head coach Rahul Dravid, spent nearly two hours at the 7, Lok Kalyan Marg residence of the Prime Minister before heading back to their hotel.

After the meeting with Modi, the cricketers left the national capital in an afternoon flight and landed in Mumbai well past 5pm for a victory parade from Nariman Point to the Wankhede Stadium.

The parade was delayed by close to three hours owing to a late departure from Delhi, but that did not dampen the spirits of the Mumbai populace one bit.

The Nariman Point, from where the Wankhede stadium is just about two kilometers away, began brimming with people quite early in the afternoon. The wait kept getting longer, but the crowd, instead of thinning, continued to grow.

The Mumbai Police had to soon issue an advisory asking people to avoid the Marine Drive stretch due to the sea of humanity that had taken over every available inch on the road.

The players eventually arrived atop the open-air double-decker bus and their body language belied their exhaustion. The now-T20I-retired duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli lifted the coveted trophy together and raised it for the fans, sporting huge grins. Their teammates, some of them draped in the tri-colour, danced and also clicked photos.

They were startled for a moment as a fan who had ascended a tree, perhaps hoping for a better view, sprang up in front of them as the bus kept moving.

It took more than two hours to cover the distance which would ordinarily take a few minutes and reach Wankhede, where there was another round of dancing, this time to the Nashik dhol.

Once inside, a packed stadium awaited the team. The players, including Rohit, Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah, took turns to revisit their emotions before and after the seven-run win over South Africa, recalling the moments when it seemed the Proteas might just deny them.

Dravid had lost his voice by the time his turn came, perhaps after all the screaming to show his appreciation for the fans' energy during the bus ride.

"I am going to miss this love. What I saw on streets tonight, I won' forget it," the otherwise staid professional said in a scratchy voice.

Also letting the emotion seep through was Kohli, who underlined his long-standing bond with Rohit. "I hope we (Rohit and I) have carried the burden and no better to bring it (trophy) back here (Wankhede).

"This is the first time in 15 years that I have seen Rohit show so much emotion. When we were climbing those steps (at Kensington Oval) he was crying and I was crying, a hug between both of us - I will never forget that day.

"I couldn't connect with the emotions of the senior players who cried that night but now I do," said the former India skipper who ends his T20I career alongside Rohit and Ravindra Jadeja with the 20-over showpiece trophy in hand.

(With PTI inputs)