Mumbai: Movement along Marine Drive here came to an absolute standstill amid pouring rain as supporters gathered on the promenade Thursday to welcome the boys in blue who brought home the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup by defeating South Africa in the finals on 29 June.
The Indian Men’s T20 cricket team landed in Mumbai around 6 PM and were honoured with a water cannon salute on the tarmac.
They then made their way to Nariman Point — starting point of a nearly 2-km long victory parade that culminated at Wankhede Stadium.
Chants of “India, India” filled the air as the open bus carrying skipper Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya and others moved towards Wankhede, which was already packed to the brim with supporters waiting for the team from 4 PM and even earlier.
Rohit Sharma, who announced his retirement from International T20 cricket after the finals, had in a post on X (formerly Twitter) Wednesday made the announcement about the victory parade.
🇮🇳, we want to enjoy this special moment with all of you.
So let’s celebrate this win with a victory parade at Marine Drive & Wankhede on July 4th from 5:00pm onwards.
It’s coming home ❤️🏆
— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) July 3, 2024
In light of the announcement, Mumbai Police even issued advisories about road closure and diversions. CM Eknath Shinde had directed the Mumbai Police Commissioner to ensure there is no mismanagement of traffic or inconvenience to fans gathered at Marine Drive and Wankhede Stadium.
On Thursday, supporters were seen flocking to Marine Drive in large numbers as early as 2 PM. Among them was Devavrat Parate, who came all the way from Malad with his 20-year-old daughter Asmi — both were seen fighting over who is a bigger fan of the sport.
“We came here at 2:15 PM to get a spot right opposite the Trident hotel. Although I am a big Kohli fan, there is no partiality, I like them all,” Asmi told ThePrint.
“She doesn’t miss a single IPL match, she wouldn’t have missed this for anything,” added Devavrat.
Not far from them was Pratik Chandak wearing his Team India jersey. Pratik said he travelled to Mumbai to witness the victory parade all the way from Surat along with 10 of his students. Owner of a coaching institute, he declared a holiday to make the trip. And though he had a return ticket, he said he wouldn’t mind cancelling it to watch the entire ceremony.
“When we won the World Cup, I watched those moments again and again at least five times. And every time I cried watching it,” he told ThePrint.
“Those were all very lovely moments. They (Team India) got the best of emotions out of me… they were surreal,” he added.
As the open bus moved towards Wankhede, the boys in blue held up the trophy and waved to the sea of fans — one indistinguishable from the other since nearly all were wearing the Team India jersey or waving the Tricolour.
Hrishita Damniwala, an MBBS student from Mumbai studying in Russia, summed it up thus: “I wouldn’t have missed this historic moment for anything”.
Upon their arrival at Wankhede, the boys in blue were met with a rousing applause and the sound of dhol.
“The huge turnout of fans to welcome us shows they were as desperate for this T20 World Cup title as we were,” Rohit Sharma told the media.
Virat Kohli added, “I couldn’t connect with the emotions of seniors who cried that night (after 2011 World Cup triumph) but now I do. This is the first time in 15 years that I have seen Rohit show so much emotion.”
“I am going to miss this love. What I saw on the streets tonight, I won’t forget it,” said outgoing Team India Head Coach Rahul Dravid.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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