The Indian skipper Rohit Sharma received a warm welcome at his “home sweet home” following his side’s ICC T20 World Cup win at Barbados last Saturday.
Team 45 Ro, the official media team of the Indian skipper, took to Instagram, sharing a picture of Rohit standing at a door of his house, titled “home sweet home”. The floor was also decorated with flower petals to welcome back the World Cup winning skipper at home.
The skipper also took to his personal Instagram account and dedicated his World Cup win to the entire nation.
“this is for YOU,” said Rohit in his Instagram post.
Earlier on Thursday morning, the T20 World Cup-winning Indian team touched down in the national capital, Delhi, to a warm welcome from fans eagerly waiting for a glimpse of their favourite heroes and the trophy.
Following their meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, the players departed for Mumbai. In Mumbai, the Men in Blue had an open bus victory parade from Marine Drive to the iconic Wankhede Stadium. The parade was an affair to remember and marvel at, as thousands of fans gathered at Marine Drive and surrounded the bus before it could even get Indian players on it.
The team went to Wankhede amid cheers, chants, and claps from passionate fans. At the Wankhede, they were felicitated with the prize money of Rs 125 crore by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) office-bearers. Players also talked about their win, and the performances of key players in the T20 World Cup inside a jam-packed Wankhede and danced their hearts out. The event also featured the players taking a victory lap to the tune of the country’s national song, ‘Vande Mataram’.
The flight was organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah and departed on July 2 from a hurricane-struck Barbados before arriving in Delhi at around 6:00 AM on Thursday. Board officials and members of the media contingent from the tournament were also on the flight.
India ended a 13-year ICC World Cup trophy drought with a victory in the final, defeating South Africa by seven runs on Saturday. Virat Kohli’s 76 helped India reach 176/7, while Hardik Pandya (3/20) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/18) helped India restrict the Proteas to 169/8, despite Heinrich Klaasen’s 52 in just 27 balls. Bumrah, who got 15 scalps throughout the tournament at a stunning economy rate of 4.17, got the ‘Player of the Tournament’ honours.
Rohit also ended the tournament with a career-best performance with the bat, with 257 runs in eight games at an average of 36.71 and a strike rate of over 156. His best score was 92, and he scored three half-centuries in the competition to become the second-highest run-getter.
Rohit retires from the format as a double T20 World Cup champion, winning the title back in 2007 as a young up-and-coming prodigy. In 151 T20I matches, Rohit has scored 4,231 runs at an average of 32.05 with a strike rate of over 140. He scored five centuries and 32 fifties in his career, with the best score of 121*. Rohit is also the leading run-scorer in the format.
