The victorious Indian team remained in Barbados for a few days following last Saturday's T20 World Cup final, but it finally arrived in New Delhi on Thursday. Upon arrival, they not only got to celebrate with the Indian crowd for the first time since the historic win at the Kensington Oval where they beat South Africa by seven runs to lift the title for the second time in history and first in 17 years, but also got to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his residence.
The charter flight from Barbados, arranged by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), landed on Thursday morning. Soon after, the players met PM Modi, who congratulated them on the title win, and had an hour-long chat with on the tournament. BCCI and Narendra Modi's official social media pages later shared a small video of the meet-and-greet session, during which the Prime Minister asked the players questions about the World Cup final.
While BCCI's video on X did not provide any details of the conversation, a report on Indian Express revealed that PM Modi was particularly curious about Rohit's Novak Djokovic-like act after the T20 World Cup trophy win. Like the 24-time tennis grand slam champion did after each of his seven Wimbledon title wins, Rohit, too, had walked to the centre of the Kensington Oval after the final, plucked a few grasses off the pitch, and ate them. PM Modi, hence, asked the Indian skipper what mud tastes like.
Virat Kohli had struggled to score runs in the T20 World Cup, managing just 75 runs in the first seven innings to register his worst-ever show at the tournament. But he bounced back in the final to score a match-winning 76 off 59. PM Modi wanted to know what was going on in Kohli's mind in the lead-up to the final, given his form. He then asked Axar Patel about his promotion up the batting order, which played a crucial role in India's win. His counter-attacking knock of 47 helped India bounce back from a top-order collapse and support Kohli through the middle-overs, where he did not score a single boundary.
{{/usCountry}}Virat Kohli had struggled to score runs in the T20 World Cup, managing just 75 runs in the first seven innings to register his worst-ever show at the tournament. But he bounced back in the final to score a match-winning 76 off 59. PM Modi wanted to know what was going on in Kohli's mind in the lead-up to the final, given his form. He then asked Axar Patel about his promotion up the batting order, which played a crucial role in India's win. His counter-attacking knock of 47 helped India bounce back from a top-order collapse and support Kohli through the middle-overs, where he did not score a single boundary.
{{/usCountry}}Not to forget, Suryakumar Yadav was also asked to relive his sensational catch in the final over, which turned out to be the match-winning moment for India. With David Miller's effort destined to go for a six, which could have reduced South Africa's equation to 10 required off 5, Suryakumar intervened at the long-off boundary to take a stunning catch that helped India win the game and the trophy.