The Hindu : Sport : Champion team felicitated at a grand reception

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Thursday, Sep 27, 2007
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Champion team felicitated at a grand reception

Special Correspondent

Rain fails to dampen spirits as thousands cheer the Men in Blue during their ride on an open top bus

PHOTO: AP

EUPHORIC WELCOME: It rained on Team India's parade in Mumbai on Wednesday but this failed to dampen the enthusiasm of fans. Thousands lined the streets to cheer Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his boys who returned from South Africa with the Twenty20 trophy. The team members rode in an open-top double-decker bus from the Mumbai airport to the Wankhede stadium.

Mumbai: Lakhs of cricket fans occupied all the vantage points along the 25-km stretch on the Western corridor from the Chhatrpathi Shivaji International Airport to Churchgate, and 35,000 people waited patiently at the Wankhede Stadium to give a rousing reception to Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s Indian team on Wednesday.

The triumphant Indian team landed in Mumbai at 8.15 a.m., a time when the blue and white collar workers, traders and corporate bosses begin their long journey to their workplace at Ballard Estate and Nariman Point.

“When we won the Twenty20 title, we all thought it was big for the team. After seeing the magnificent response from the people of Mumbai we are truly touched. Many of us did not know what was happening, but we soon realised what our victory means for Indian public. I don’t have words to express, it’s is amazing. We all thought that Mumbai was a Chalta hai (mechanical) city, but today we brought Mumbai to a standstill,” said Dhoni at the Wankhede Stadium, where the felicitation function was delayed by four hours.

Traffic jam

For once the daily commuters from the suburbs would not have probably been upset by the traffic jam on the route, caused by the slow moving decked-up open top bus that had the members of the Indian team as its super star commuters.

Thousands of them at Chowpathy beach opted to stay put at the Marine Drive after immersing the Ganesh idols in the wee hours on Wednesday. Almost the entire city was lashed by rain, but it was a special day when nothing could dampen their spirits; they just wanted to part take in India’s victory celebrations and have a glimpse of Dhoni & Co.

Mumbai’s traffic police had estimated a time of two hours to cover the long journey, but overcrowded junctions at Shivaji Park, Worli Naka and a few more places delayed the team’s arrival at the destination by three hours.

Virtually every seat on the stands named after Vijay Merchant, Sunil Gavakar, Sachin Tendulkar and Vithal Divecha had been occupied well before the team appeared in India colours after refreshing themselves in the Vijay Manjrekar dressing rooms.

An orchestra group entertained the huge crowd for four hours with popular songs, some of them kindling nationalistic fervour. Their day was made finally when Dhoni and his colleagues appeared on the stage; it was time to let out a spectacular roar.

Big rewards

The felicitation function lasted 30 minutes. The BCCI President Sharad Pawar patted the players on their back, gave an appreciation letter and a cheque for Rs. 80 lakh. On behalf of the Maharasthra State Government, the Sports Minister, Vasant Purke, presented a bouquet, silk shawl and a silver salver.

Yuvraj Singh — the first to be called to receive the cash prize — received an additional sum of Rs.1 crore for hitting six 6s in a single over off England’s Stuart Broad and the key to a Porsche 911 sports car (presented to him by BCCI Vice-President Lalit Modi).

Compere Harsha Bhogle announced that that sports channel Neo Sports has decided to present a Mercedes Benz to Rudra Pratap Singh.

The BCCI presented a cash award of Rs. 15 lakhs to each member of the support staff in Venkatesh Prasad (Bowling coach), Robin Singh (Fielding coach), John Gloster (Physio), Greg King (Physical trainer), Lalchand Rajput (Cricket Manager), Sunil Dev (Manager), Ramesh Mane (Masseur), Russel Radhakrishnan (Travel assistant) and Dhananjay (computer analyst).

Answering a few questions posed by Bhogle, the Indian captain, when asked to recall his thoughts when Pakistani batsman Misbah ul Haq executed a scoop shot, said: “First I thought the ball was falling behind Sreesanth. Then I was looking only Sreesanth’s hands, not the ball. I was just praying the ball falls into his hands. Tension grips us a little more with Sreesanth, but it’s important to have bandhe (character) like him in the team,” said Dhoni, making it known that he would talk in Hindi since the earlier speakers had spoken in English and Marathi.

Mentally tough

Dhoni also said that players from towns are physically and mentally tougher than the boys from the metros. “That’s because of lack of facilities in towns. But now players from metros and towns aspire to play for the country and are also keen to perform at international level.

“That’s what the players did in South Africa. We all felt that since India did not have a good World Cup in the West Indies, this was a perfect stage to perform. We were relaxed from the beginning. Our motto was to enjoy the format and take it match by match.

— Photo: PTI

WELL DONE BOYS: Thousands braved rain to give the Indian team an unforgettable reception.

“The final was also another match. When there are no expectations, one tends to get more determined. When we reached South Africa, no one was talking about India qualifying for the Super 8 and knock out. So it was really a challenge. The most important thing was that we had faith in each other’s abilities. When I tossed the ball to a bowler, he gave me wickets, and when I sent out a batsman, he gave me runs. And our fielding was outstanding.”

The crowd was delighted when Dhoni’s team ran a victory lap. It’s now that things went of control, in spite of the presence of the police and personnel from the Rapid Action Force. The crowd at the Guest stand dismantled the barbed fencing and rushed towards the team. Sensing trouble, the Commissioner of Police D.N. Jadhav ordered his staff to protect the players from the surging crowd. Some semblance of order was restored.

On the way to the stadium vehicles came to a halt, housewives cheered, senior citizens waved from their balconies in apartments, children screamed from schools, office-goers stood in the street and most parts of the city through which the bus passed went into a tizzy, bringing it to a virtual standstill.

From the early hours of the morning an eager media, hundreds of supporters and musical bands awaited the Indian team outside the airport.

Passengers and staff lined the walkway inside the airport and as captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni emerged carrying the trophy and leading the team, a huge cheer went up.

The squad received a ceremonial welcome and a shower of flowers as they exited the airport, after which they were greeted by Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, his deputy R.R. Patil and other Cabinet colleagues.

No photo please

Earlier, Mr. Pawar had ordered his photograph to be removed from the team bus and instructed that not a single BCCI official should be part of the team in its victory parade.

“When he (Pawar) came to know at the airport that his photograph was featured in the team bus he told me to remove it immediately. He also did not want any of the BCCI officials to be in the team bus. Mr. Pawar also told me ‘Let the players enjoy the parade”’, said a BCCI official.

According to the BCCI official, the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister, R.R. Patil had instructed the personnel on duty to announce at the Ganesh idol immersion venues on Tuesday night that the Indian team is landing on Wednesday morning and that the people should give it a big welcome.

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