Team India players, including Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma, and others, sang legendary music composer AR Rahman's iconic 'Vande Mataram' song with a huge crowd at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday, July 4.
The Men in Blue landed in Mumbai after meeting-cum-breakfast with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his official residence, 7 Lok Jan Marg in New Delhi. Mumbaikars gave a rousing welcome to Team India as the T20 World Cup champions took out a much-anticipated open-top bus parade from Marine Drive to Wankhede Stadium, where a massive crowd was in attendance for the felicitation ceremony of the players.
The victory parade brought the entire Mumbai traffic to a standstill as the sea of fans thronged to the street to get glimpses of the heroes who brought the back India to glory with T20 World Cup triumph.
The celebration continued at the Wankhede Stadium, where Team India players carried out a victory lap to thank the fans for their support throughout the tournament. During the victory, AR Rahman's 'Vande Mataram' song was played at the stadium and the crowd began to sing. However, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma and rest of the Indian team joined in to sing the song along with the crowd. BCCI shared the video of the same on its X handle.
Interestingly, crowd chanted the same song 'Vande Mataram' when former India captain MS Dhoni hitting a winning six in the 2011 World Cup Final against Sri Lanka at the Wankhede Stadium.
Meanwhile, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Roger Binny, vice-president Rajeev Shukla and secretary Amit Shah felicitated Team India players with INR 125 crore in front of massive crowd at the Wankhede Stadium for the T20 World Cup 2024 triumph. The cash reward was announced by Jay Shah after clinched the second T20 World Cup title.
'The win has brought smiles to crores of people': Rohit Sharma
India skipper Rohit Sharma couldn't be more happier than putting smiles on the faces of the Indians after the T20 World Cup 2024 triumph. He said that the fans were desperate to see Team India bringing back the trophy home.
"This (crowd) tells that the desperation we had to win was similar to the desperation which the fans had. The win has brought smiles on faces of crores of people. This is a special team and this trophy belongs to the nation." Rohit Sharma while addressing the crowd inside the Wankhede Stadium.
Rohit Sharma was part of the Indian team that won inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup in 2007. His life came to full circle after leading the Men in Blue to second T20 World Cup triumph by defeating South Africa in the Final in Barbados on June 29.
After the T20 World Cup triumph, Rohit, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja announced their retirement from T20Is.
