Mumbai: Following the India team's landing a little after 5 pm on Thursday, the T20 World Cup-winning team of skipper Rohit Sharma was paraded through the streets of South Mumbai, bringing the traffic to a halt. The event commenced, which was earlier delayed by days after the team was trapped in Barbados due to a hurricane, two hours late.
As per the itinerary shared by the officials here, the two-hour open bus parade started from the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Nariman Point till the Wankhede Stadium started a little after 7:30 pm in the evening as the Maximum City's stretch along the Marine Drive was drowned in an 'Ocean of Humanity'.
The Indian team left could only fly from New Delhi around 3:42 pm after a breakfast meeting with the Indian PM Narendra Modi, having returned from Barbados in the wee hours of the morning. The Wankhede Stadium here was thrown open to fans, who filled up the stands within minutes to celebrate the Indian cricket team's title triumph last Saturday.
After arriving in the city, Rohit Sharma's team and its support staff made their way to the southern tip of the city, which houses the Wankhede Stadium.
But not before their aircraft — a Vistara flight — got the famous 'Water Salute' after arriving here at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport's Terminal 2.
The players walked out of the airport, and a sea of fans and media were waiting for them for several hours.
Meanwhile, here at the iconic Wankhede Stadium, which witnessed India's last ODI World Cup triumph in 2011, the stands were filled to the brim by passionate fans as thousands of others waited outside the gates, which were closed around 5:00 pm.
As the gates closed amid intermittent rain, extreme humidity and chaos of several thousand people arriving in the vicinity, those fortunate ones who were able to find their places inside Wankhede remained fixated on their seats even if there was a scarcity of food and water.
As the fans ran in all directions to take their places in the stands amid a heavy burst of rain, several pairs of footwear got left behind in the rush while debris of all kinds was also thrown around along the way.
While the wait extended, the rain kept pelting down with breaks, but it could not force the fans out of their seats inside the stadium.
The DJ kept entertaining with songs of all genres, and at one instance, it felt like Wankhede was hosting a rain-dance party with the stadium's speakers blurting out Vengaboys' party hit 'To Brazil' and the country's unofficial sports anthem "Chak de India".
Soon after, Wankhede came alive with its customary chants of 'Sachin… Sachin' followed by 'Mumbaicha Raja, Rohit Sharma!' and 'India… India'.