Return of Champions: Team India get rousing reception as they land at Delhi airport after T20 World Cup win

Two buses were stationed outside the T3 Terminal to ferry the players to their hotel.

The team, which returned home on a chartered Air India plane, will be attending a breakfast hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Later in the day, like M S Dhoni’s 2007 ICC World T20-winning team, Rohit Sharma’s victorious side will take a ride on an open-top bus in Mumbai.

The parade will start from the National Centre for Performing Arts at Nariman Point and is scheduled to culminate at Wankhede Stadium at 4 pm.

Indian cricket team supporters outside the Delhi airport on Monday. (Express Photo)

“Join us for the Victory Parade honouring Team India’s World Cup win! Head to Marine Drive and Wankhede Stadium on July 4th from 5:00 pm onwards to celebrate with us!,” Jay Shah, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) posted on X on Wednesday.

After their seven-run win over South Africa in the final, the Indian team’s return was delayed by Hurricane Beryl hitting the Caribbean. The flight, which is being operated by a long-range Boeing 777-200LR aircraft named ‘Avijit’ (unconquered) and bearing registration VT-AEE, has a special call sign AIC24WC — a tribute to India’s title win, The Indian Express had reported.

The team was slated to leave Barbados on Monday (July 1) at 11 am local time, and fly to New York, where they would take a connecting flight to Dubai before landing in India. However, the hurricane has led to the closure of the Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados and stalled all flight services indefinitely.

Besides the players, the flight has on board the team’s support staff, players’ family members, a few BCCI officials and some Indian mediapersons.

Indian cricket team player at the Delhi airport on Thursday. (Photo: X/@DelhiAirport)

The aircraft had operated Air India’s Delhi-New York flight a day earlier and was scheduled to operate the New York-Delhi flight before it was repositioned to Bridgetown airport instead to bring back the Indian team stuck on the Caribbean island.

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