Rohit Sharma looks at fans outside the Wankhede Stadium during the victory parade

The victorious Indian team returned home to a celebration like no other. From a bus parade to a water salute: here's how the day unfolded for Rohit Sharma and team.

It is a night Indian cricket fans will remember for years and years.

Mumbai turned into a sea of blue to welcome its heroes back in India, who brought home an ICC trophy for the first time in 11 years.

Special flight AIC24WC brings the heroes home

It was a mad, mad day that began in the early hours of July 4 with the celebrations going on till late night. It started in Delhi, when a special chartered flight, named AIC24WC landed after 15+ hours of flying from Barbados. It became the most-tracked flight on Flightradar24, a Sweden-based online flight-tracking system.

When they landed, a big welcome awaited. Rohit Sharma walked out, holding aloft the trophy. Suryakumar wasn't shy to break into a dance. There were smiles and cheers all around. The heroes were home.

As Kohli would say later, it was an anti-climactic return, having spent four days after the win in Barbados, as Hurricane Beryl prevented them from returning earlier.

Team meets PM Modi

From the airport, the team went straight to the ITC Maurya hotel for a brief stopover. The team then headed to 7, Lok Kalyan Marg to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence. They spent time speaking to Modi, following it with a formal photoshoot with the trophy.

The day was just beginning.

 

UK1845: A tribute to Rohit and Kohli

By 3pm, they were back at the airport, now flying in a Vistara plane titled UK1845, a tribute to Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Their destination? Mumbai, the home of Indian cricket, where a 2-kilometer-long victory parade and thousands of fans awaited.

At the airport, their plane received a water salute, a gesture reserved for special occasions. The parade was scheduled to began at 5pm; the team landed only at 5.30pm.

 

A (slow) drive down Marine Drive

Due to rain and the immense number of fans, the schedule got pushed back a couple of hours. Fans waited and waited, some even climbing stop trees to get the perfect vantage point. Inside the Wankhede, fans waited since 3pm for an event that actually began around 7.30pm.

When the parade actually started, the scenes were spectacular. The Indian bus waded through hoardes of fans who had choked the Marine Drive.

The team took turns to hold up the trophy. When Rohit and Kohli did that together, the fans let out the biggest cheer yet.

 

At the Wankhede, the team received another rousing welcome. Hardik Pandya, who had received boos at the same stadium during the IPL just two months ago, was now at the centre of cheers. A felicitation followed, where Jay Shah and the rest of BCCI's office bearers formally awarded the prize money of INR 125 crore to the team.

Rohit Sharma, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah gave fine speeches. Kohli, in particular, garnered praise for how he summed up Bumrah's contribution to Indian cricket. 

 

"It's the first time in 15 years of playing together that we've seen Rohit so emotional," Kohli said.

They danced, they hugged, they had a victory lap around the ground. 13 years since that night, the Wankhede Stadium saw an Indian captain hold aloft a World Cup.

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