T20 heroes felicitated at the Wankhede

New Delhi: Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team took more than fours hours to travel the 30-km long route from the Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport to the Wankhede Stadium for their felicitations ceremony organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on winning the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship.

The team landed at the airport at around 0830 IST and reached the Wankhede at about 1400 IST passing through Bandra junction, Mahim, Haji Ali and Peddar road. Hundreds and thousands of fans had assembled at the airport and along the entire stretch through which the top-open bus carrying the players passed.

Even the Wankhede Stadium was overflowing with fans as it is only the second time that an Indian team is getting a ticker tape welcome after Ajit Wadekar-led team got it in 1971 on their return from the Caribbean after their historic Test series win over the West Indies.

"I wish to congratulate the entire team. I wish to specially congratulate Yuvraj Singh for his six sixes," BCCI Presedent Sharad Pawar said at the felicitation ceremony.

There was a security scare when around 2000 to 3000 people broke the barrier and ran into the ground chasing the players after the felicitation ceremony.

Security personnel took the players to the dressing room.

One more thing that marred the felicitation ceremony was that the politicians were given seats in the front row whereas the Twety20 team members were seated in the back row.

Earlier, the team arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday morning with the Twenty20 World Championship trophy and was greeted by thousands of fans, who had camped at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport since Tuesday night to catch a glimpse of their heroes.

The 30-km long route from the airport through Bandra junction, Mahim, Haji Ali, Peddar road to the Wankhede Stadium was also jam-packed with lakhs of fans.

Even the skies opened up to join in the celebrations. It had been raining heavily in Mumbai since last night and the weather was very pleasant.

From early morning fans were seen bursting crackers and as soon as the team members came out of the airport, they were showered with flowers.

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