Felicitation at Wankhede: WC champs to take part in open bus road show

Mumbai: The T20 World Cup-winning Indian cricket team will take part in an open bus road show followed by a felicitation ceremony here at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.

The Indian team is expected to reach New Delhi on early Thursday morning (6:20am) after departing from Barbados' Grantley Adams International Airport in a chartered flight which has a special call sign — AIC24WC — Air India Champions 24 World Cup.

The departure of the Indian squad was delayed due to Hurricane Beryl. However, the team, its support staff, the players' families, some board officials and travelling Indian media finally managed to leave Barbados in the charter flight arranged by the BCCI early on Wednesday morning (4:50am local time).

"The team has left from Barbados on a special Air India flight hired by the BCCI. The Indian journalists who were stuck there (Barbados) are also coming on the same flight along with BCCI president (Roger Binny) and secretary (Jay Shah), who are looking after all the arrangements," BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla told PTI.

"The flight will land at Delhi airport tomorrow at 6 am. The team will meet PM Narendra Modi at 11 am at his residence. After this, the team will fly to Mumbai, where a ceremony has been organised.

"There will be a road show from Nariman Point in an open bus and later we will honour and felicitate the players with the prize money of Rs 125 crore as announced,” he added. While final plans are being drawn up by the local administration and cricket authorities here, it is expected that the team will take part in an open bus road show from the iconic Nariman Point to the Wankhede Stadium which also hosts the headquarters of the BCCI.

A felicitation event at the Wankhede is also planned for the members of the Indian team. A similar road show was held here 14 years ago when MS Dhoni's team had beaten arch-rivals Pakistan in the final of the inaugural 2007 World T20 in South Africa. Rohit Sharma and his men won the title after pulling off a thrilling seven-run win over South Africa in the final on Saturday at the Kensington Oval.

"Air India managed to send a flight on a charter basis in close coordination with the BCCI officials to bring the players home. Fortunately, this aircraft could be made available after accommodating the passengers due to fly from Newark to Delhi in another Air India flight," a source close to the developments said. "