Rohit Sharma-led Team India on Thursday met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his official residence for breakfast after their T20 World Cup 2024 triumph, in New Delhi. The T20 World Cup winners finally returned home as they landed in the national capital during the early hours of Thursday.
As soon as the Men in Blue arrived at Delhi Airport, they headed towards the ITC Maurya Hotel, where they took a rest before going to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Before leaving to meet PM Modi, the players, including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid and Hardik Pandya, cut the special cake prepared by the ITC Maurya Hotel chefs to celebrate their triumphant return.
Team India players wore a special jersey with ‘India Champions’ written on it and headed to 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, the official residence of the Prime Minister. Modi congratulated the players during an hour-long meeting with them.
He held candid interaction with the players, and posed for a picture with them and the trophy. The players and head coach Rahul Dravid shared their experiences of winning the T20 World Cup. BCCI President Roger Binny and Secretary Jay Shah escorted the players during the meeting.
A memorable occasion as #TeamIndia got the opportunity to meet the Honourable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modiji in Delhi 🙌@narendramodi | @JayShah pic.twitter.com/eqJ7iv9yVw
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 4, 2024
Initially, the team was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. However, it was postponed as the players’ departure from Barbados was delayed due to Hurricane Beryl, which caused significant travel disruptions. Due to heavy winds and rains, none of the flights were able to land or take off from the Barbados Airport.
The BCCI quickly arranged a special Air India chartered flight to bring back Team India as well as Indian media, who was covering the tournament, from Barbados. Upon the arrival of Team India at Delhi Airport, they were greeted with cheers and chants by enthusiastic fans, who patiently waited outside Terminal 3 of the airport to get glimpses of the T20 World Cup champions.
After the meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Team India players headed to Indira Gandhi International Airport from 7 Lok Kalyan Marg to take a flight to Mumbai.
The Men in Blue will hold an open bus victory parade from Marine Drive to Wankhede Stadium, the BCCI headquarters. A similar victory parade was taken out when MS Dhoni and his boys won the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007, defeating arch-rivals Pakistan in the final.
It was a momentous occasion for entire country as Team India won the World Cup for the first time since 1983. Meanwhile, the bus for the victory parade is ready. The specially designed bus looks visually stunning.
Meanwhile, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal will leave for Zimbabwe after the celebration to join the India squad.
(The article is published under a mutual content partnership arrangement between The Free Press Journal and Connected to India)