The victorious T20 World Cup team was met by an enormous crowd of enthusiastic fans as people from across Mumbai flooded the streets and filled every inch of Marine Drive on July 5. Following the victory parade, Rohit Sharma and his team were welcomed by a fully packed Wankhede Stadium. As the celebrations came to an end, here's a glimpse of the emotional speeches delivered by Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Hardik Pandya.
At the Wankhede Stadium, where Hardik Pandya was booed during IPL 2024, the atmosphere was now filled with cheers and support for him. Rohit Sharma expressed his feelings and commended Pandya for his contributions.
"Hardik was bowling the final over for us. Hats off to him for bowling that last over. You know, no matter how many runs you need, there is always so much pressure to bowl that over. But hats off to him," the 37-year-old said.
India's T20 World Cup-winning was a redemption arc for Pandya. Fans cheered for Pandya during the victory parade, and his name echoed in the entire stadium during the felicitation ceremony.
Taking to X, Pandya wrote, “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.”
Sharma dedicated the T20 World Cup trophy to the entire nation and said, “This trophy is for the entire nation. Along with all the players who have represented the country, we want to dedicate it to our fans, who have waited for 11 years. The Mumbai-born batter also praised the people of Mumbai for the warm welcome, "Mumbai never disappoints. We got a solid reception. On behalf of the team, we would like to thank the fans. I am very, very happy and relieved.”
During the felicitation ceremony at the Wankhede stadium, Virat Kohli revealed to a packed audience that he had never seen "an emotional" Rohit Sharma in their 15 years association till the Indian captain hugged him with welled up eyes after the T20 World Cup triumph.
"This is the first time in 15 years that I have seen Rohit show so much emotion. When we were climbing those steps (at Kensington Oval) he was crying and I was crying," Kohli said.
As the youngest member of the class of 2011, he had seen Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh teary-eyed, soaked in emotion and perhaps, he never understood where was it all pent up. But now he does. "I couldn't connect with the emotions of the senior players who cried that night but now I do," Kohli said.
When Gaurav Kapoor asked Kohli, "I am thinking of signing a petition to declare Jasprit Bumrah as a national treasure. Will you sign it?" to which the legend replied, “I will sign it right now.” "Bumrah is a once in a generation player and so glad he plays for us," Kohli said.
He further added, “What I would like everyone to do is to applaud a guy who brought us back into games, again and again and again in this tournament. What he did in those last 5 overs, it was phenomenal.”
As Rahul Dravid's tenure ends, he said, “I am going to miss this love. What we have seen today is absolutely phenomenal. What we have seen right from the time we have landed here. Just the love of these people and fans. It is the greatest game in the world because of the fans of India." Meanwhile, VVS Laxman will be the head coach of the Indian team for their upcoming T20I series against Zimbabwe. India's next head coach is yet to be announced.
(With inputs from agencies)
