The Indian cricket team touched down in New Delhi fresh from winning the T20 World Cup to a rousing reception early on Thursday morning.
They were accorded a rousing welcome from hundreds of fans who thronged the airport to welcome the champions. The Air India flight with a special call sign – AIC24WC – Air India Champions 24 World Cup from Barbados’ Grantley Adams International Airport arrived in Delhi on Thursday morning around 6:20 am. The team, led by skipper Rohit Sharma and Coach Rahul Dravid, checked in at the ITC Maurya Hotel in Delhi.
Taking to X, BCCI wrote, “It’s home #TeamIndia.” The Indian cricket team will be hosted for a reception by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital before heading to Mumbai, where they are to participate in an open-top bus parade with the trophy.
Two buses were stationed outside the T3 Terminal to ferry the players to their hotel, from where they will head to the Prime Minister’s residence at 11 am tentatively for a reception. After this, they will fly to Mumbai where they will take part in an open bus road show followed by a felicitation ceremony here at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
The Indian team will arrive in Mumbai at 4:00 pm and the two-hour-long bus parade will start from the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA). The parade will start approximately at 5:00 pm from the NCPA, near the famous Nariman Point, and will go on for about two hours before they reach the Wankhede Stadium.
A felicitation event to honour the players and the squad members has been scheduled between 7:00 pm to 7:30 pm, after which the players will leave for their hotel.
BCCI secretary Shah welcomed all fans to join the victory parade on Thursday evening. “Join us for the Victory Parade honouring Team India’s World Cup win! Head to Marine Drive and Wankhede Stadium on July 4th from 5:00 pm onwards to celebrate with us! Save the date! #TeamIndia,” Shah wrote on ‘X’, formerly Twitter.
Team India was stuck in Barbados because of a hurricane, but were flown out of the West Indies in a specially-arranged charter flight.
Team India flew from Barbados to New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport in an Air India flight AIC24WC- Air India Champions 24 World Cup- that left around 4:50 am local time on Wednesday and arrived in Delhi at 6 am IST on Thursday after a 16-hour non-stop journey. Team India defeated South Africa by seven runs in the final in Bridgetown on Saturday last week.