“Mumbai is never a disappointment”. These were the words Rohit Sharma used to describe how people from Mumbai received his T20 World Cup winning team at Marine Drive and then later at Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
That was seven months ago when this person from Mumbai was heartbroken after leaving the field in tears when India lost to Pakistan in the final of the 2011 ODI World Cup at Ahmedabad. He hasn’t stopped smiling since he lifted the trophy last Saturday in Bridgetown. On Thursday, this was true as well as he led his homecoming party and enjoyed himself in his hometown on home ground.
After a long flight from Barbados to Delhi for a meeting with PM Narendra Modi and then to Mumbai, one would have thought the team would be tired. However, as Rohit put it “he wants to enjoy every minute, every second of it” which was followed by others in his crew.
As such, he enjoyed to the fullest leading the team onto the field amid cheers from those present in the stadium who had waited patiently since 4pm. He was the first one who danced as dhol tasha group played on at MCA Pavilion. Then Virat Kohli pulled him towards them and so did all other members of his team. Wankhede is not the biggest stadium in India but its electric atmosphere is unmatched. It was no different on Thursday either.
The loudest cheers were for Rohit’s captaincy, Kohli’s fighting spirit, Bumrah’s accuracy, Surya’s that catch and Pandya’s all round performance. After speeches and giving out of Rs 125cr cheque, they embarked on victory lap.
The parade lasted nearly six hours, beginning at the airport in 2007 and ending near Wankhede. Then captain of the Indian cricket team MS Dhoni had said that “he didn’t realize how big the win was until he came out of the airport”.
On this occasion, however, the distance covered by the open bus was shorter but fans still displayed their excitement. This time, it happened at Southern tip of the city. Rohit told his followers to join him for celebrations through a Facebook post on X and they answered in kind. To put it more succinctly, what occurred during both processions in 2007 and another famous victory celebration like this one for ODI World Cup 2011.
In summing up what draws so many people to Marine Drive or Wankhede, a mad rush could be seen as India’s highest goalposts were being stared down from a massive crowd. It has been hot and humid with some showers interspersed and delayed start; yet many Blue Army members managed to take positions on strategic locations where they could watch their team who only returned back home yesterday wee hours after being stuck in Barbados.
Fans were pouring out of Churchgate station in pandemonium. The Western Railway’s busiest stations like this one cannot even see such scenes even during peak hours.
Soon as the gates were open people started rushing and pouring to fill Wankhede. In all that confusion some people lost their shoes, chappals, slippers; but that didn’t matter. Just before 5pm the gates were closed with over 30000 people who waited patiently for something they loved most. They shouldn’t have? It was still a chance for an ordinary man to be close to his or her idol and share in something extraordinary. They had their phones ready to take pictures, videos and post online.
On Monday evening, Team India traveled along Marine Drive which was packed to capacity, while at the stadium fans were entertained by DJ Sachin himself.
