Packed Wankhede Stadium provides apt reception to India’s T20 World Cup heroes on their return from West Indies via New Delhi; no shortage of spectator-turnout on the streets too
India captain Rohit Sharma holds the T20 World Cup trophy during the open bus victory parade at Marine Drive in Mumbai yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
Finally, the T20 World Cup came home on Thursday, five days after beating South Africa in the final at Barbados. Skipper Rohit Sharma, outgoing head coach Rahul Dravid and the entire victorious squad arrived at the Wankhede Stadium a little before 9pm to loud cheers at the packed stadium.
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The Mumbai crowd that booed Hardik Pandya not long ago during the Indian Premier League, cheered for the India vice-captain when Rohit spoke of the crucial final over of the final. Pandya stood up and acknowledged the crowd.
India’s T20 World Cup champion team line up at the Wankhede yesterday. Pic/Getty Images
Rohit dedicated this victory to the nation, saying, “Yes, this means a lot to us, but it is also for the entire nation.” Rohit preferred not to compare the victory parade of 2007 ICC World T20 to this latest one, him being the only member to win two T20 world titles. He was so pleased to bring back the World Cup to Mumbai, the very venue where India won their last ODI World Cup in 2011.
That Rohit phone call
It was Rohit’s phone call to Dravid that made the pair do it together. Dravid said: “I wasn’t really sure after 50-over World Cup. And, for Rohit to say let’s have one more crack, it’ll be lovely to have one more crack together, I am truly grateful. It’s one of the best phone calls I have received in my life,” said Dravid.
Man of the final, Virat Kohli, who was a member of the 2011 ODI World Cup-winning team, saluted Jasprit Bumrah for his efforts in the last World Cup. Kohli said: “A big thank you to all in the stadium. What we saw in the streets I won’t forget for the rest of my life. What he [Bumrah] did in those last five overs was phenomenal, a huge applause to Jasprit Bumrah.”
Bumrah promised that he would not go the Rohit-Kohli-Ravindra Jadeja way in quitting T20Is. “Retirement is a very long way away,” he said. The team were presented a cash award of R125 crore by the Board of Control for Cricket in India and did a lap of honour around the stadium to thank the supporters. On a remarkable occasion to mark the Indian cricket team bringing home the T20 World Cup after 17 years on Thursday, the sea of spectators that filled up Marine Drive well before the Indian team landed in Mumbai from New Delhi matched the volume of the majestic Arabian Sea adjacent to them. A good three hours before Rohit & Co could be sighted at the Wankhede Stadium (the concluding point of their short open-bus parade), the stands at the historic venue were beginning to fill up with the vociferous Indian cricket fans sending the decibel levels high enough to reach the ears of the triumphant Indian team high in the skies as they were approaching Mumbai. The enthusiasm of the Indian spectators and their patience should be appreciated.
Stadium gates shut early
The gates to the stadium were already shut as the stands were full except for the MCA Pavilion and the MCA President’s Box. They preserved their vocal chords for the moment the Indian team arrived and even as it rained for a brief while, they did not move looking for shelter. Instead, they took it as a blessing from above. It rained when Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his boys waded through the Mumbai roads from the airport to the Wankhede that day in September 2007. It rained on Thursday too.
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