Team India to have an open-top bus parade with T20 World Cup trophy in Mumbai on Thursday: Reports
The Indian team led by Rohit Sharma will be reportedly having a parade on an open-top bus on Thursday (July 4) in Mumbai. The parade will start at the National Centre of Performing Arts at Nariman Point before finally concluding at the Wankhede Stadium.
The Men in Blue played a thrilling final against South Africa in Barbados on Saturday (June 29), winning the game by seven runs and getting their hands on the iconic T20 World Cup trophy after 17 long years.
The players and the coaching staff along with several other BCCI and media personnel had to stay back in Barbados because of the shutdown of the airport due to the threat of Hurricane Beryl.
However, according to reports from the Indian Express, Team India will land in New Delhi in the early hours on Thursday via a chartered flight and then have breakfast hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The flight will then bring the players to Mumbai for the open-top bus parade at 4 pm IST.
Here's what a source told the aforementioned news organization:
"The players are tired and are mentally fatigued. That is why it was decided to have short open-top bus parade from NCPA, Nariman Point, to Wankhede Stadium which is not more than 2 kilometers followed by prize distribution, where the Rs 125 crore prize money will be distributed by BCCI secretary Jay Shah."
The parade will be a mini-version of what MS Dhoni and his victorious Men in Blue had way back in 2007 after winning the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup.
Rohit Sharma excited to bring the T20 World Cup trophy to India
Earlier, Indian captain Rohit Sharma took to Instagram to post a picture with star batter Suryakumar Yadav and the iconic T20 World Cup trophy. He seemed excited to finally start the journey back to India and here's what he captioned the photo with:
"Coming home ❤️🏆"
The Indian captain later on urged the fans to join the parade which will start at 5 pm IST on Thursday.
"🇮🇳, 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," he tweeted.
Rohit Sharma is the only player who is a part of both the 2007 and the 2024 T20 World Cup-winning teams.