Onboard AIC24WC (Air India Special Jet from Barbados to New Delhi): The triumphant Indian team, back home after two days of Hurricane Beryl-hit ordeal in Barbados, will have a busy day on Thursday (July 4) before being free of all commitments in the night.
BCCI has lined up a series of events for the Rohit Sharma-led side that includes an audience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi and a road show in Mumbai later in the evening. The team landed in the national capital on Thursday morning.
According to BCCI officials, the victorious side will check into the ITC Maurya Hotel in Central Delhi and leave immediately for the Prime Minister’s residence, which is about a 10-minute drive. The meeting with Modi will take place in two batches — first with the players and then with the members of the support staff — from 9.30 am onwards after which the players will fly to Mumbai by a charter in the afternoon. On arrival in Mumbai, they will be part of victory march in the evening on the streets of South Bombay.According to tentative plan, the road show will start at the Air India Building at the iconic Nariman Point and will culminate with a gathering at the Wankhede where the team will be felicitated by the BCCI.
After a long wait in the Caribbean island, where the Indian team beat South Africa in a heartstopping final last Saturday, the team left Barbados around 4.30 am (Eastern Time) on Wednesday by an Air India Special Jet. The aircraft carrying about 100 members, including players, families, support staff, officials and media personnel, landed in New Delhi on Thursday morning after close to 16 hours of non-stop flight.
The team could not leave the island sooner after the World Cup win due to Hurricane Beryl which brought life to standstill in Barbados for close to two days. The entire island, including the airport, was shut down and air traffic resumed only on Wednesday morning. The Air India private jet flew in to Barbados from the Newark Airport in New Jersey and touched down in Barbados around 2 am on Wednesday.
The senior men’s side ended a 11-year drought of ICC trophies, the last one being the Champions Trophy in England in 2013. They came close to an ICC title many times since but the silverware had eluded them quite a few times, including in the Champions Trophy final in 2017, the World Test Championship final in 2021 and 2023 and the 50-over World Cup in 2023.