India's World Cup winning cricketers returned to a tumultuous welcome today as
an ecstatic nation rolled out the red carpet for the homecoming of their young
heroes.
The euphoria of the remarkable Twenty20 World Cup triumph spilled over onto the
streets as the bustling metropolis virtually came to a standstill with thousands
of frenzied fans turning up to cheer Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men.
The cricket crazy fans braved the rains as they thronged the airport and the
30-km route to the Wankhede Stadium to have a glimpse of the cricketers,
who traversed the route on an open top bus.
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' 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.
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