Victorious Indian cricketers arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday morning to a tumultuous welcome following their triumph in the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup as hordes of crowd braved strong rain to greet them.
The rain could not dampen thousands of cricket fans, who waited for their heroes outside the CSI airport. Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Deputy Chief Minister RR Patil, top brass of the Cricket Board, including President Sharad Pawar, Vice Presidents Lalit Modi and Rajeev Shukla, Secretary Niranjan Shah and chief selector Dilip Vengsarkar were present at the airport to receive the players.
It was the kind of welcome Indian team had earlier received after Kapil Dev led the country to the 1983 ODI World Cup and prior to that in 1971 when Ajit Wadekar’s team had won the Test series in the West Indies.
Security arrangements had been beefed up at the airport but the players, surrounded by policemen, had a tough time getting out and finally board the open bus.
India’s ‘Captain Cool’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the first to come out, along with Administrative Manager Sunil Dev.
Star batsman Yuvraj Singh looked little jaded but once he boarded the bus, the dashing Punjab player broke into a Bhangra and all other players looked quite relaxed.
The players, clad in white T-shirt, acknowledged the cheer of the roaring crowd and waved national flag.
Music troupes played the traditional Maharashtrian music outside the arrival lounge of the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here while many other waited with flags and showered flowers on the team.
The cricketers started for their 30-km journey to the Wankhede Stadium where they would be felicitated by the BCCI.