Sep 26: The jubilation of becoming World Champions touches its peak, as the MS Dhoni led Team India landed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai after scoring a worthy victory over archrivals Pakistan in an enthralling final in Johannesburg on Monday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Deputy CM R R Patil, BCCI President Sharad Pawar, vice presidents Lalit Modi and Rajeev Shukla, secretary Niranjan Shah and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar were also present at the airport to receive the players. Thousands of cricket fans waited patiently amidst heavy rain outside the airport to catch a glimpse of their heroes.
India’s gutsy captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the first to come out, along with administrative manager Sunil Dev. The proud winners of the Indian team boarded an open-topped bus from the airport to Wankhade Stadium in South Mumbai, where a felicitation function for the players scheduled to be organised by the Indian cricket board (BCCI).
The victory procession took the Western Express Highway route to South Mumbai. Along the way the cavalcade of the victorious team passed through some of the most well known Mumbai landmarks like the Siddhivinayak Temple, Haji Ali and Chaupati before arriving at the Wankhade Stadium.
The Mumbaikars showed some great enthusiasm in lauding the efforts of Team India despite heavy rains has been lashing Mumbai since last night. The fans were crazier like never before as the procession run through its course. Everyone wants to give a warm welcome to the triumphant members of the Indian cricket team.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the rest of the team members have taken in a 30-km long motorcade to the stadium. The Mumbai comes to a standstill as the caravan proceeded. Mumbai people must be fed up of facing jams and traffic disruptions in their daily routine but on this particular day everybody is feeling good, as they have become the part of the history and will cherish the moment in their whole life.
The last time the victory procession hit Mumbai roads was way back in 1971, when Ajit Wadekar led Indian team arrived home, after conquering their first ever Test series victory in England soil.
The triumphant Team India received a warm homecoming today that they would be going to remember it for life. The proud winners of the Twenty20 World Cup were given a rousing welcome by the Mumbai fans.
The felicitation ceremony is to be attended by the members of the 1983 World Cup winning team. All the arrangements have been made to make sure that the victory ceremony turns out to be the biggest and the grandest, surpassing any other such event ever held in India.
BCCI President Sharad Pawar will present the prize money of USD 3 million as a reward to Team India. Yuvraj Singh will be rewarded with a prize money of Rs 1 crore for his splendid 6 sixes in an over against England and the keys of a brand new Porsche 911 car.
The UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has also invited the youth icons of Indian cricket team led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh to the Capital, after they expressed their desire to meet her during the conversation the former had with them on Monday night, after Team India’s stunning victory.
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Comments:
akshay
October 8, 2007 at 12:00 AM
the procession was arranged from airport to wankhede stadium when india won 20-20.Now, my advice is to arrange the procession from wankhede to airport as they cannot win against australia.