ICC T20 World Cup 2024: Tiring but rewarding journey back home

New Delhi: Several wholesome moments from onboard Team India’s 16-hour flight from Barbados to New Delhi across Wednesday and Thursday will not be revealed as the management requested privacy after generously offering space aboard the charter flight for journalists travelling to India.

But, they will not mind us saying that even five days after their emotional T20 World Cup win, the joy and relief hadn’t dissipated onboard the now-famous ‘AIC24WC’ - Air India Champions 24 World Cup.

Originally, the flight was supposed to depart at 6 pm, but that was later pushed to midnight, before finally taking off at 4:30 am. The pilots reckoned the heavy spell of rain at the time of taking off worth taking a risk because there was another storm forecast later in the day. It worked out. 

The team was set up in business class, but no one had the energy to chat each other up after getting on board. A few hours of rest later, though, there was plenty of conversation among players, staff and journalists.  

In fact, outgoing coach Rahul Dravid and outgoing skipper Rohit Sharma, besides the likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Shivam Dube and all, walked over to ‘economy’ and spent considerable time discussing the win, and beyond, with journalists even as confusion over time and changing time zones prevailed. 

The best part, however, was that they kept the trophy in the economy section for a significant time so that the journalists could have some time with it. 

As the special but tedious journey was coming to a close, you could tell that the members of the team were getting emotional because it had been over a hundred and twenty-four hours since they had won the World Cup and only now were they getting a chance to show it off to those at the New Delhi airport. 

As they alighted in their special-edition jerseys with ‘champions’ written on them, a crowd of several thousand gathered to welcome the side despite the heavy rain. They thronged the bus, which was headed to ITC Maurya to catch their breath before heading to meet the Prime Minister at his residence. 

The day’s itinerary involved a flight to Mumbai for the open-top parade before a felicitation function at the Wankhede stadium. Given how jet-lagged they must be, and just the general weight of the last month, this won’t be an easy task for the team. 

But they would pick this journey of 15,000 miles with a storm on their back and trophy in their hands rather than that quiet flight back to their respective homes from Ahmedabad in November last year with only a runners-up tag pinned to their lapel.  

This, tiring as it has been, is India’s moment to celebrate one of the greatest victories and one of the greatest teams of this generation. It’s unlikely to stop anytime soon, and rightly so.