At Marine Drive in South Mumbai, there was a tremendous crowd of passionate fans celebrating the victory of the Indian team in the T20 World Cup.
The parade which commenced from Nariman Point and culminated at Wankhede Stadium brought traffic to a complete halt as thousands of people lined up on the streets just to catch a glimpse of their favorite players.
Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya and the rest of the Indian team sang ‘Vande Mataram’ with all those present during celebrations at Wankhede Stadium.
It reminded me of how in 2011 ODI World Cup final as MS Dhoni hit winning six against Sri Lanka, this song was sung by everyone in attendance when he scored the winning shot.
The BCCI presented Rs. 125 crore prize money to India’s Men in Blue for their second T20 World Cup win. The team took a victory lap around the stadium after felicitation. Players singing patriotic songs were seen during that time.
For Rohit Sharma, who had been part of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s historic 2007 squad when he was still very young, taking his own team for a victory parade as India led T20 World Champions must have felt outlandish at age 37.
As far as his playing days are concerned over last fifteen years or so, various faces came but one face remained constant within Indian T20 skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s presence within this set-up is worth commending.
“This (crowd) tells that desperation we had for winning was equivalent to what desperation they fans had. Crores people are happy today with this win. This is special team and that trophy belongs to nation,” Rohit addressed fans inside stadium.
