''HATS OFF!'' : ROHIT SHARMA HEAPS PRAISE ON HARDIK PANDYA AT WANKHEDE, FANS CHANT MI CAPTAIN'S NAME IN UNISON
It was unbelievable scenes at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday as the victorious T20 World Cup 2024 Indian team received a thunderous reception from the Mumbai crowd. 13 years ago at this very stadium, MS Dhoni-led India won the ODI World Cup in 2011 and now after more than a decade, Mumbai's own boy Rohit Sharma led the nation to their 4th World Cup in the history of the shorter formats of the game.
Team India landed in the morning today in Delhi, where they had breakfast with Prime Minister Narendra Modi before they took the flight to Mumbai to be part of a historic victory parade. That parade ran from Nariman Point to the iconic Wankhede Stadium.
The parade was scheduled to start from 5 PM IST but due to the sea of fans blocking the road at Marine Drive and Nariman Point, it took the Team India's bus to reach the stadium around 9 PM IST.
Captain Rohit Sharma during the felicitation ceremony, praised Hardik Pandya for bowling a brilliant final over in the T20 World Cup final against South Africa. Just two months ago, the scenes were contrasting at this very stadium for the Mumbai Indians captain. The fans didn't take the new MI skipper in their good books and constantly booed him for the side's below par performance in the IPL.
But now the same fans cheered him when the former Mumbai Indians captain mentioned his name. At the same time, the Hitman also praised Suyakumar Yadav, who showed brilliant athleticism to take an impossible catch of David Miller under pressure in the same final over.
“Hats off to Hardik Pandya bowled final over and he bowled brilliantly”, Rohit told and then the Mumbai crowd started chanting 'Hardik, Hardik!'
Apart from Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah also reflected on their big win.
"Rohit and I, we've been trying this for so long. We always wanted to win a World Cup. Bringing the trophy back to Wankhede is a very special feeling", Kohli told.
"My Retirement is very very far away now'', Bumrah talked about his retirement.
Team India will be next seen in action against Zimbabwe in a 5-match T20I series in Zimbabwe. Shubman Gill will be leading a young side and only three players from the T20 World Cup winning squad will feature in the series but that too after the first two T20Is. The tour stars from 6th July and all the matches will be played in Harare.
2024-07-04T16:45:15Z dg43tfdfdgfd