Victory Parade | Sea of Team India fans brings Mumbai to standstill
The Wankhede Stadium was thrown open to fans, who filled up the stands within minutes to celebrate the Indian cricket team’s title triumph
An ocean of humanity greeted the victory parade of the T20 World Cup-winning Indian team in South Mumbai's Marine Drive. Thousands of passionate fans gathered to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars, bringing the traffic to a complete standstill. The two-hour open bus parade, which was delayed by two hours, started from the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) in Nariman Point at 7:30 p.m. and went to the Wankhede Stadium.
Rohit Sharma holds aloft the trophy during the victory parade on Thursday. PTI Photo
The distance is covered usually in five minutes but it took more than an hour as the players savoured the evening of their lives all drenched -- not in rain but unadulterated love from their die-hard fans. In 2007, Rohit Sharma was the youngest member of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's epoch-making squad, and now, at 37, for him to lead his T20 World Champion Indian cricket team on a victory parade must have given him a sense of deja vu.
He is now the oldest member of this current team, 'been there and done that' and even as the faces around him changed in more than one-and-a-half decades, the now-retired Indian T20 skipper remained a constant for all these years.
As the bus passed through the sea of human, his mind must have travelled back to that September morning in 2007 when Mumbai was as drenched as it was on Thursday evening.
Chants of "Mumbaicha Raja Kaun? Rohit Sharma" (Who's the King of Mumbai? Rohit Sharma) reverberated through the roads.
"This (crowd) tells that the desperation we had to win was similar to the desperation which the fans had. The win has brought smiles on faces of crores of people. This is a special team and this trophy belongs to the nation," Rohit said while addressing the fans inside the stadium.
Then there was Hardik Pandya, who probably found organic acceptance, after a stellar T20 World Cup campaign as he was the first to lift the trophy and show it to the fans.
The once jeered 'Mumbai Indian' was the cheered 'Indian' in Mumbai. The 'Maximum City' was ready to shower 'Maximum Love' for the colourful 'Baroda Bomber', who has made Mumbai his home.
He craved for validation and unconditional love and Mumbaikar were now ready to embrace him.
Fans throng stadium
Meanwhile, the stands at the Wankhede Stadium got filled to the brim by passionate fans as thousand others waited outside the gates which were closed around 5 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 to their seats even if there was 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 kind was also thrown around along the way.
While the wait extended, rain kept pelting down with breaks but it could not force the fans off 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 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’.(With agency inputs)