Fans brought Mumbai to a standstill as they welcomed back the T20 World Cup-winning Indian cricket team. Rohit Sharma’s side, along with the coaching staff and a few BCCI bigwigs did a victory on an open-top bus at Mumbai’s Marine Drive and the iconic 3km-long promenade and the streets leading up to it was packed with fans.
Among the many protagonists of India’s thrilling victory over South Africa in the final in Barbados was all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who bowled the last over with South Africa needing 16 runs to win. He conceded just eight and took two wickets, with the first of those being that of the dangerous David Miller.
Pandya posted a video from the bus of him celebrating with the trophy in his hands on his social media handles. He posted a long caption along with the video, thanking the fans and the city of Mumbai for turning up in numbers. “India, you mean the world to me! From the bottom of my heart, thank you for all the love.. these are moments that I will never ever forget! Thank you for coming out to celebrate with us, despite the rains! We love you so much! Celebrating with you is why we do what we do! We’re all champions! All 1.4 billion of us! Thank you Mumbai, thank you India,” he said.
From boos to cheers
Pandya had an extraordinarily bad season in the Indian Premier League (IPL) just before the T20 World Cup. He copped booes from the crowd at the Wankhede Stadium almost every game as the fans refused to accept him as captain of the Mumbai Indians. The atmosphere affected his performances as well as scored just 216 runs and took 11 wickets with an economy of 10.72 and MI finished bottom of the table.
However, the same stadium filled up with chants for him on Friday at various points for the role he played, particularly when Rohit appreciated his efforts during the team’s felicitation ceremony at the ground. “Hardik was bowling the last crucial over for us. Hats off to him for that last. You know how many over you need to defend, there is always so much pressure to bowl that over, hats off to him,” Rohit said, sparking huge cheers from the fans.
Pandya also acknowledged the Wankhede crowd and expressed gratitude during the felicitation ceremony in the den of the Mumbai Paltan. The all-rounder picked up three wickets for 20 runs in the T20 World Cup final at the Kensington Oval. Following Rohit’s retirement from the shortest format in the international arena, all-rounder Hardik is heavily tipped to succeed the veteran opener as India’s next T20I captain