Bridgetown (Barbados): The T20 World Cup-winning Indian cricket team finally departed for Delhi aboard a charter flight from the Grantley Adams International airport on Wednesday after being stranded here for three days due to a category 4 hurricane.
The Air India special charter flight AIC24WC — Air India Champions 24 World Cup — took off around 4:50am local time and will land in the Indian national capital on Thursday at around 6:20 am (IST).
“Coming home,” posted India captain Rohit Sharma on Instagram, posing with the trophy in the aircraft before it took off.
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 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.
“Air India managed to send a flight on a charter basis in close coordination with the BCCI officials to bring the players home. Fortunately, this aircraft could be made available after accommodating the passengers due to fly from Newark to Delhi in another Air India flight,” a source close to the developments said.
“These passengers could have been inconvenienced but would have wholeheartedly supported the change to ensure our champions come back.”
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 players, who ended a trophy drought of 11 years.
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.
Hurricane Beryl is now headed towards Jamaica.
