The Indian cricket team finally managed to leave Barbados in a special flight arranged by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Wednesday. Rohit Sharma’s men were to leave from the island nation on Sunday after winning the T20 World Cup 2024 but a hurricane threat forced them to remain placed in their hotel for the next three days. The special charted flight arranged by BCCI secretary Jay Shah will also be carrying members of Indian media who went to cover the tournament but got stranded due to the hurricane Beryl.
Just hours after their T20 WC win, Men in Blue were forced to stay confined inside their hotel rooms as the hurricane made landfall in Barbados on Sunday and a curfew was imposed for the safety of people. Electricity and water supply were also affected.
#WATCH | Indian cricket team leave from Barbados. The team will reach Delhi on July 4, early morning.
The flight arranged by BCCI’s Jay Shah is also carrying the members of Indian media who were stranded in Barbados pic.twitter.com/V0ScaaojBv
— ANI (@ANI) July 3, 2024
The Indian squad, its support staff, the players’ families and some board officials are aboard the flight along with members of the travelling media contingent. The flight has been arranged by the BCCI.
The Rohit Sharma-led side won the title after pulling off a thrilling seven-run win over South Africa in the final on Saturday.
The Boeing 777, which took off from New Jersey, USA on July 2, landed in Barbados around 2am local time and the airport staff here stated that they had not seen a bigger plane land at the Grantley Adams International airport, which resumed its operations on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Indian team was scheduled to leave around 6pm local time on July 2 and arrive at 7.45pm (IST) on Wednesday but the departure was delayed as the plane landed late here.
The players are set to be felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi within hours of returning to the country. Plans are also afoot to have a road-show in Mumbai to honour the triumphant team, which ended a trophy drought of 11 years.
Hurricane Beryl is now headed towards Jamaica.
With PTI Inputs
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