India’s T20 champs return triumphant

AFP | New Delhi

The Daily Tribune - www.newsofbahrain.com

India’s T20 World Cup winners returned home to a heroes’ welcome yesterday, greeted by huge crowds of euphoric fans and praised by a grinning Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a private reception. Frenzied crowds shouted “India, India” after the team landed at Delhi airport from the Caribbean, having been delayed for days by Hurricane Beryl.

The team waved to the crowds and danced to drums and live music at their hotel before heading off to meet Modi at his residence. Rohit and his team wore Indian jerseys emblazoned with “Champions”, as broadcasters showed images of them posing with their trophy and the premier. “An excellent meeting with our Champions!” Modi wrote on social media platform X afterwards.

Evening saw the team paraded in an open-topped bus through the financial capital Mumbai, the birthplace of India’s cricket obsession, along a seafront route thronging with jubliant crowds. They took a victory lap in front of thousands more fans at Wankhede Stadium, the site of India’s last World Cup win for the 50-over edition of the tournament in 2011. “This is surreal, watching my team with the World Cup,” emotional fan Rohit Khanna told AFP before the team landed. “I saw the 2011 triumph, but this is a moment I will never forget.”

‘Dream’ 

Despite monsoon rain, crowds gathered outside New Delhi’s airport long before dawn, waiting for a glimpse of their idols, who had beaten South Africa on Saturday in a thrilling final in Barbados.

Whistles and wild cheers greeted the players as they walked out from the arrivals area with gold medals around their necks, some giving a thumbs-up to their fans. It was vice-captain Hardik Pandya who emerged first, wearing a Caribbean hat, and the crowd erupted when captain Rohit came out carrying the glittering trophy, which he hoisted into the air.

Star batsman Virat Kohli, whose hometown is Delhi, was given some of the loudest cheers as he waved to hundreds of fans.