Team India's talismanic batter Virat Kohli was left surprised by a huge crowd of enthusiastic fans who thronged to welcome the Men in Blue at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi on Thursday, July 4.
The T20 World Cup 2024 winners finally returned home as they landed in Delhi three days after being stranded in Barbados as the island country was hit by Hurricane Beryl. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) arranged a special Air India chartered flight to bring Team India, along with the Indian media who had been covering the tournament, back from Barbados.
India squad, their families and support staff departed from Barbados on Wednesday afternoon and landed in India's capital during the wee hours of Thursday. Indian players received a rousing welcome from fans who were waiting outside the arrival terminal to get glimpses of the champions who brought glory back to India with T20 World Cup triumph.
In a video that went viral on social media, Virat Kohli can be seen speaking to someone on the bus when he looked outside and was left surprised by a huge crowd cheering for Team India. He also asked his teammates to have a look at the crowd.
After arriving at the Delhi Airport, Indian players headed to ITC Maurya hotel, where they took a rest following their long flight journey before leaving the hotel to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Rohit Sharma-led Team India will have breakfast with Modi before heading back to Delhi Airport to fly out to Mumbai, where they hold open bus victory parade from Marine Drive to Wankhede Stadium, where they place the coveted T20 World Cup trophy at the BCCI Headquarters.
Virat Kohli ended his T20I career on high
Virat Kohli couldn't have asked for a better ending to his illustrious T20I career other than playing a crucial innings for Team India and winning the T20 World Cup triumph.
In the final against South Africa, Kohli stepped up for the team at the right time and played a brilliant innings of 76 off 59 balls to help India post a defendable a total of 176/6 on the board before the Indian bowlers did their brilliant job to restrict South Africa to 169/8 in a stipulated 20 overs.
Following India's T20 World Cup triumph, Virat Kohli announced his retirement from T20Is as he wanted younger generations to carry forward Team India in the shortest format.
Kohli retired from T20Is as the second-leading run-getter, amassing 4188 runs, including a century and 38 fifties, at an average of 48.69 and a strike rate of 137.04 in 125 matches.
