THOUSANDS THRONG AS MUMBAI LAYS RED CARPET FOR TEAM INDIA

A wet Friday Mumbai evening of July 4 where an estimated 40,000-plus got together in the 33,000-seater Wankhede stadium to celebrate India’s World Cup winners was an example why it wasn’t just a truism that rain, hail, sunshine or cricket can bring India to a grinding halt.

After five and half hours of waiting, the crowd got the first glimpse of their heroes who had returned victors with an unbeaten run of wins in USA-West Indies to end a 17-year wait for a T20 World Cup trophy, a 13-year wait of winning another World Cup. Many of them had no idea that the team was yet to take off from Delhi to leave for Mumbai, when they had first rushed inside the stadium to take a vantage point.

They were simply responding to captain Rohit Sharma’s call on social media – he had asked the city to make it a day to remember and they obliged. So many people had congregated outside the stadium that police authorities decided to throw the stadium gates open at 3pm, an hour earlier than scheduled.

More people had assembled outside the stadium at the Marine Drive promenade for the team’s open bus road show.

Read Here: Mumbai’s Marine Drive turns into sea of fans for Team India T20 World Cup victory parade

With no one wanting to miss out, all roads led to South Mumbai. Local trains were flooded with people and created an earlier-than-peak-hour congestion at Churchgate station, a 5-minute walk from Wankhede. The atmosphere in trains was festive. The compartments had broken away from the monotony of the tired heading back from work and broken into Rohit Sharma and ‘India, India’ chants.

Inside Wankhede, the entire crowd wasn’t bleeding blue as we often see in an India match. Many were in formal wear. A few like Rohit, the captain’s namesake, had bunked work. His surname won’t be named, but perhaps his bosses wouldn’t mind if they saw the emotions at the stadium for India’s bunch of 15 who returned world beaters.

The Wankhede was already full when the Indian team was mid-air enroute Mumbai. By the time the team touched down around 5.30 pm, a lot of the crowd was completely soaked after a spell of heavy rain. It didn’t dampen their spirits in the least.

“Of course, I will stay till the end. That’s what I have come for,” said Jitesh Patel. He had taken an early morning train from Ahmedabad, especially for Rohit Sharma. Jitesh was there at the Narendra Modi stadium for the ODI World Cup final where Rohit’s fireworks were cut short by Australia. “America aur West Indies main pura hissab chukta kar liya Rohit ne (Rohit made complete amends in USA-West Indies).”

Read Here | Shah Rukh Khan shares emotional note for Team India after World Cup win: ‘Fills my heart with pride’

In the crowd, there was a businessman who had turned up in time from Pune, another from the city’s outskirts of Dahanu. They were all held together by the DJ who had turned the endless wait inside a closed stadium from turning claustrophobic into a music concert. From ‘Venga boys’ to ‘Chak de India’, ‘Lehra do’ to ‘We are Champions’, there was enough to keep their spirits up.

Thousands brought the roof down with their mexican waves. Hardik Pandya, who was a much-reviled figure at the same stadium not so long ago in his franchise jersey, had won his fans back.

The ‘Rohit, Rohit’ chants had the same rhythm as ‘Sachin, Sachin’. Many in the crowd were too young to experience the magic of Sachin Tendulkar’s strokes first-hand. To them, Rohit Sharma had given them goosebump moments to celebrate. The passing of baton that Tendulkar spoke of when he signed off from international cricket was there to see, with Rohit touching the highest peak of achievement in his glorious career.

No water, spirits intact

Maithili Gaikwad, a wheelchair-bound cricket buff, was seated on her wheelchair by the pavement waiting patiently to catch a glimpse of the Indian players. Gaikwad, 27, was born with spina bifida and is a state level para badminton player. She hasn’t yet got a chance to watch a cricket match inside the stadium due to accessibility issues.

“I have grown up watching these players, so I wanted to be here no matter what,” she said.

It didn’t matter that, with the help of her office colleagues who walked from Cuffe Parade to Marine Drive and got her along on the wheelchair, it took a long 30-minute journey.

As the evening stretched on, some in the crowd began to tire out. The few hundred gallons of water that were brought inside the stadium for the crowd had turned empty and many were left with parched throats. “It’s getting difficult now. Even my mother is asking me to come back home,” said Sakshi, a South Mumbai college goer.

Then they showed visuals of a sea of people across Marine drive on the big screen with the players taking the victory lap around people . The crowd would forget that they had gone hours without food or water. Soon, the Indian team was taking a victory lap of the entire stadium and the huge roar of approval from the fans suggested, it had been worth the wait.

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2024-07-04T20:02:05Z dg43tfdfdgfd