Nearly two million people watched the Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya singing “Vande Mataram” video on social media.
The Rohit Sharma-led Team India experienced a taste of what MS Dhoni and his men felt at the iconic venue moments before their ODI World Cup win against Sri Lanka in 2011 as they grooved to the crowd in singing AR Rahman’s well-known song “Maa Tujhe Salam.” The team was feted at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday for defeating South Africa last week in Barbados to win the T20 World Cup for the second time in history.
The Wankhede crowd started singing “Maa Tujhe Salam” in unison in 2011 during the ODI World Cup final in Mumbai, when India was about to end their 28-year-long drought for a world crown in the match against Sri Lanka. To this day, the video of it circulates on social media.
Virat Kohli—the only player to have played for both teams in the World Cup—and Hardik Pandya sang a stirring rendition of the song during Rohit and his team’s lap of honour on Thursday at the Wankhede Stadium.
With the tagline “Vande Mataram,” BCCI posted the video to social media, where it got two million views.
वंदे मातरम 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/j5D4nMMdF9
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 4, 2024
Team India eventually touched down in New Delhi early on Thursday, arriving on a charter airplane from Barbados, where they were stuck due to Hurricane Beryl. They subsequently met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence. Following that, they headed to Mumbai, where tens of thousands of ecstatic spectators flocked to Marine Drive to support the recently crowned T20 global champions.
The squad traveled to Wankhede stadium in an open bus procession with the prized trophy in hand, led by captain Rohit and his deputy Hardik. There, they took part in festivities arranged by the Board of Control for Cricket in India. After waiting for hours to catch a sight of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and the other cricket stars, fans celebrated by dancing, waving the India flag, and flashing their smartphones.
With the T20 World Cup victory, India won its first world crown in thirteen years, its first ICC trophy in eleven years, and its first championship in the format in seventeen. The victorious team would receive a monetary incentive of INR 125 crore, according to the BCCI.