Mumbai: The victorious Indian cricket team has reached India after a long flight journey from Barbados to New Delhi, marking the end of a 13-year drought with their stellar T20 World Cup campaign.

Upon their early Wednesday morning arrival at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, the team received a fantastic reception. The joyous faces at the airport greeted the players, who were then taken to a seven-star hotel. Following their arrival, the team met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

After the meeting with the Prime Minister, the team departed for Mumbai. An open-top bus parade is scheduled to commence from Nariman Point to the Wankhede Stadium in the afternoon. The parade will start at 4 PM, with the players expected to reach Nariman Point around 3:30 PM. A small ceremony will follow at the Wankhede Stadium.

The blue-colored bus, customized specially for the Indian team, features a picture of the Indian squad celebrating with the trophy and ‘Champions 2024’ written on top of it. The bus reached Marine Drive ahead of today’s procession, reminiscent of the 2007 T20 World Cup celebrations.

Rohit Sharma had never thought about retiring from T20 Internationals but like Virat Kohli, the charismatic Indian skipper had to make way for the younger generation and he said there was “nothing better” than saying goodbye with an elusive World Cup trophy.

Speaking to select media after a thrilling seven-run win in the T20 World Cup final against South Africa, Rohit said he could not have picked a better time to leave the T20 format. However, he was quick to add that he would continue playing the IPL.

“I don’t make decisions like this about my future. Whatever I feel is right from inside I try to do that. I don’t think much about the future or whether I would play this World Cup after the ODI World Cup last year,” the 37-year-old swashbuckler said.

“I never thought that I would retire from T20s. But the situation is such, I thought it is the perfect situation for me. Nothing better than winning the cup and saying goodbye,” added Rohit when asked if would have retired from T20s earlier if India won the ODI World Cup at home seven months ago.

‘Sab likha hua hai’

India could not cross the finishing line in the ODI showpiece despite being the most balanced team in the tournament. They also had to endure a loss to Australia at the World Test Championship final last June.

Using a popular Hindi film line, Rohit said the triumph here was written in the stars.

“Jo likha hain who hone wala hain, ye likha tha but humko pata nahi hain kee kab likha hain. Nahi toh hum aaram se aate and bolte ‘likha hain’ aur ho jayega (I believe that what is written is going to happen. I think it was written. But obviously you don’t know before the match. Otherwise, we would have easily come and said, it’s written),” he quipped.

“Everything has to fall in place. As you saw, we were way behind the game. At one point, it seemed like they would win easily,” he said referring to South Africa gaining the upper hand courtesy Heinrich Klaasen’s blazing 52 off 27 balls.

Life has come full circle for Rohit, who was part of the 2007 T20 World Cup win under Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy.

Talking about his T20 journey since then, he said: “I was told that I started in 2007, won the World Cup and I am leaving the game after winning the World Cup. So that’s a tailor-made situation for me. A proper full circle. So I’m very happy with this.”

“I was 20 years old at that time. I tell my players to try perform their role. I had a role at that time. I used to bat at 5 or 6 number. So, it was very important to finish well for us.

“I understand the game much better now, having played for so many years. So, it’s been brilliant,” he said adding that it is a big challenge to play and captain in all three formats.

Considering the circumstances and India’s long wait for a title, the win on Saturday was one of the greatest of his career.

“This has to be the greatest time I can say that. It’s only because how desperately I wanted to win this. So, all the runs, all the runs that I’ve scored in all these years, I think it does matter, but I’m not big on stats and all of that.

“Winning games for India, winning trophies for India, that is what I look forward to all the time. And having this now right beside me probably has to be, I don’t know, honestly, I don’t know if it’s the greatest or what but it is definitely one of the greatest,” said Rohit.

He went down on his knees after the victory was sealed. On that emotional moment, Rohit said he was desperate for the trophy.

“…it was very emotional. I wanted this badly. So, it’s very hard to put it in words because that moment, I don’t want to say what I was thinking and what was going in my mind, but it was a very emotional moment personally for me.

“And I’m going to, I wish I could capture that moment myself but not really, you can’t do that but I will always remember that,” he said.

Kohli and Dravid deserved this high

He also acknowledged the massive contribution of batting mainstay Virat Kohli, who cae good in the final with a crucial 76 after a lean tournament overall, and outgoing coach Rahul Dravid.

“More than any one of us, Rahul bhai deserved that trophy. What he has done for Indian cricket for the past 20-25 years, I think this was the only thing that was left in his cabinet. I am very happy from all of us on behalf of the entire team that we could actually do this for him,” he said.

“Look, Virat has been a champion player without a doubt. And we all know what he has done for us. At some point everyone has to say goodbye to the game and Virat was very clear that this is what he wanted to do and he was very clear before the start of the tournament as well.

“I am very happy for him that he batted like he did in the finals,” added Rohit.

New York: Arshdeep Singh’s artistry and Suryakumar Yadav’s coolness combined well for India as they staved off USA’s challenge, etching a seven-wicket win to clinch a Super Eight berth in the T20 World Cup here on Wednesday.

After Arshdeep’s career-best 4 for 9 restricted USA to what looked like a manageable 110 for 8, India made a heavy weather of an easy chase on a slightly challenging track before Suryakumar (50 not out off 49 balls) reasserted his status as world’s No. 1 ranked T20 batter.

He traded his flamboyance, waiting like a tiger on the prowl for his prey, in the company of Shivam Dube (31 not out off 35 balls), who didn’t inspire much confidence despite the chase being completed in 18.2 overs.

The Surya-Dube pair added 67 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket stand.

The turning point seemed to be a bit of ignorance about the rules from the US bowlers, who flouted the rule of taking only 60 seconds between the overs on three occasions and conceded five penalty runs at an inopportune time.

India needed 35 off 30 balls at that stage when umpire Paul Reiffel informed skipper Aaron Jones about the decision and that effectively ended the US resistance.

That was the opportunity Surya waited for as he then finished the match in a jiffy with a flurry of shots.

But not before Saurabh Netravalkar (2/18 in 4 overs), the Oracle programmer from Silicon Valley, wrote a couple of perfect codes to remove an out-of-form Virat Kohli (0) with a delivery that shaped away and then bowled a slower one to find the leading edge of former Mumbai senior teammate Rohit Sharma’s willow.

Dube once again struggled on a slow track as India were 53 for 3 after 11 overs with 58 more to get in the last 9 overs.

The shackles were finally broken when Surya uppishly flicked Ali for a boundary towards mid-wicket and Dube, after an arduous struggle of 25 deliveries, picked Corey Anderson’s slower ball to dispatch him for

a six over deep mid-wicket.

India will head to Florida for the final group league game against Canada but the weather forecast in Miami is gloomy and that would certainly raise the US team’s spirits as a draw against Ireland would help them knock Pakistan out of the tournament.

Having opted to bowl, Arshdeep hardly took his foot off the pedal enjoying career-best figures of 4/9 as USA managed 110 for 8, which was decent if not great if one factored in the track at the Nassau County Cricket ground.

After a couple of gallant batting performances in their back-to-back victories, the USA batters found

Indian pace attack a few notches above in terms of class and quality.

There was hardly a phase of play when the hosts would have felt the noose being loosened around their necks.

However, after scoring 42 in the first 10, USA with useful contributions from Nitish Kumar (27), Steven Taylor (24) and former New Zealand international Anderson (15) added another 68 in the back-10.

Once Arshdeep got a couple of breakthroughs in the opening over including a first-ball wicket of Shayan Jahangir, there was no looking back for the Indians.

They never had a slip up in terms of intensity, mixing up fuller deliveries with ones that were pitched on back of length.

The left-arm pacer was fantastic both at the start and at the death bowling an incredible 17 dot balls.

Hardik Pandya (2/14) was once again very effective with the ball while Dube’s (0/11) performance wouldn’t raise much hopes for skipper Rohit in terms of a potent bowling option.

New York: India beat Ireland by eight wickets in their opening Group A match of the T20 World Cup here on Wednesday.

Captain Rohit Sharma top-scored with a 37-ball 52 before he retired hurt while wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant chipped in with 36 not out off 26 balls as India chased down the target of 97 with 46 balls to spare.

Earlier, India’s pace quartet, led by Hardik Pandya, produced a dominant effort on a spicy pitch to bowl out Ireland for 96.

Pandya (3/27) led India’s effort with the ball and he received able support from Arshdeep Singh (2/35) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/6) after skipper Rohit elected to bowl first in their tournament opener.

Brief Scores:

Ireland: 96 all out in 16 overs (Hardik Pandya 3/27, Arshdeep Singh 2/35, Jasprit Bumrah 2/6).

India: 97 for 2 in 12.2 overs (Rohit Sharma 52 retired hurt, Rishabh Pant 36 not out).

Chennai : Rajasthan Royals’ talented young pretenders miserably failed in a ‘Slow Track Test’ as Sunrisers Hyderabad’s unfancied spin twins Abhishek Sharma and Shahbaz Ahmed spun a web to set-up a 36-run win in the Qualifier 2 and an IPL summit date with Kolkata Knight Riders here on Friday.

The title clash will be played here on Sunday.

Chasing a target of 176, Royals were restricted to 139 for 7 ensuring a third IPL final for SRH after 2016 and 2018.

On a slow track that offered significant turn and grip as the evening progressed and no dew to help batters, Abhishek (2/24 in 4 overs) and Shahbaz (3/23 in 4 overs) forced the Yashasvi Jaiswals, Sanju Samsons and Riyan Parags to press the unwanted ‘Harakiri button’ in 15 minutes of pure brain fade that ended their hopes of a third final.

Their combined figures of 5 for 47 in 8 overs completely overshadowed the celebrated duo of Ravichandran Ashwin (0/43 in 4 overs) and Yuzvendra Chahal (0/34 in 4 overs), who gave away 77 runs in their quota of overs.

That difference also became the difference between the two sides eventually.

From a comfortable 65 for 1 in 7.4 overs, it suddenly became 79 for 5 by the end of the 12th over.

Abhishek, who had bowled only three overs in 15 games prior this night, suddenly got the ball to dip and turn while Shahbaz’s deliveries gripped and one such saw the back of Samson, who waited for an eternity to pull over the cow corner.

Jaiswal and for that matter Parag also couldn’t simply get the distance as the ball stopped on them.

The humidity was around 80 percent and hence the absence of dew only made matters worse.

Dhruv Jurel (56 not out off 35 balls) tried his bit but save Jaiswal (42 off 21 balls) all others flattered to deceive.

It must be mentioned that the highly-rated Samson, again failed to score on days when it mattered. Samson’s failures on big days have been his biggest undoing and Royals expected a much better effort from their skipper.

It was imperative after Sandeep Sharma, the master operator on tacky surfaces, put his skill-sets to optimum use while restricting Hyderabad to a decent yet manageable 175 for 9.

The Royals bowling could be segregated into three distinct parts despite Heinrich Klaasen’s half-century (50, 34b) that had four maximums.

Trent Boult (3/45) started the slide in the Powerplays, Sandeep choked the ‘Orange Army’ batters in the middle overs while Avesh Khan 2.0 was as

menacing at the death (3/27) as he has been throughout the tournament.

But it was the canny Sandeep (2/25 in 4 overs), who took pace off his deliveries as Sunrisers batters were literally ‘Short Third-Manned’ with four batters failing to clear the fielder stationed at the edge of the 30-yard circle.

Chahal manning the slot took three catches while Ashwin also got one at the same position.

The problem SRH batters, including the in-form Travis Head (34 off 28 balls), faced was the lack of pace in the surface that became a hindrance while using it for the traditional T20 ramp scoops.

Abhishek (12) at the start became indiscreet when he played one shot too many off Boult and was holed out.

The ploy to use Ashwin (0/43 in 4 overs) with the new ball because of his familiarity with Chepauk didn’t work as Rahul Tripathi (37 off 15 balls) hit the senior off-spinner out of the attack.

Just when it seemed that he was taking control on a day when Head wasn’t getting his timing right, his poor shot selection while trying to hit Boult over short third became his undoing.

Aiden Markram’s re-entry in playing XI didn’t pay dividends as he was out slashing at short third-man. However with Klaasen for company, SRH were clawing back at 99 for 3 when Head paid for his profligacy with Sandeep rolling his fingers over.

Klaasen understood that the ball wasn’t coming onto the bat and only went for the jugular to the deliveries that were in his arc as he got one of his better half-centuries in difficult conditions before a slower delivery on the blockhole rattled the furniture.

With Klaasen’s departure, the chances of getting past 200 also went through the window.

Mumbai: Lucknow Super Giants beat Mumbai Indians by 18 runs at Wankhede Stadium on Friday.

Mumbai Indians thus finish last in the 10-team table with only 8 points from 14 games.

Aided by a 109-run partnership between skipper KL Rahul (55 off 41 balls) and Nicholas Pooran (75 off 29 balls), LSG scored a commendable 214 for 6.

The visitors then struck at regular intervals to stop MI at 196 for 6 despite Rohit Sharma’s 68 off 38 deliveries and Naman Dhir’s reargaurd 62 off 28 balls.

Earlier, Rahul first steadied the innings with Marucs Stoinis (28) after the fall of his opening partner Devdutt Padikkal for a duck and then stitched a century stand with West Indian Pooran, who clobbered eight maximums and five boundaries.

Spinner Piyush Chawla (3/29) and Sri Lankan pacer Nuwan Thusara (3/28) emerged the most successful Mumbai Indians bowlers, grabbing three wickets each.

Brief scores:

Lucknow Super Giants 214 for 6 in 20 overs (Nicholas Pooran 75, KL Rahul 55; Piyush Chawla 3/29, Nuwan Thushara 3/28).

Mumbai Indians 196 for 6 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 68, Naman Dhir 62 not out; Ravi Bishnoi 2/37).

Bhubaneswar: Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra won the gold medal in men’s javelin throw event of the Federation Cup here, his spear shimmering through the balmy Wednesday evening sky after an unusually slow start in his first competitive outing on Indian soil in three years.

The 26-year-old superstar struggled to get going in the competition and he was second after three rounds. He took the lead in fourth round with an effort of 82.27m and he did not take the final round as he was leading after DP Manu, who settled for silver, had finished his final round throw.

Chopra last took part in a domestic competition at the same event on March 17, 2021, when he won a gold with a throw of 87.80m.

Since then, Chopra has won a historic gold in the Tokyo Olympics, became Diamond League champion in 2022, world champion in 2023 and defended Asian Games gold in China.

He also won three individual legs of Diamond League and claimed a silver in the 2022 World Championships.

He is, however, yet to touch the 90m mark. His personal best and national record is 89.94m.

Guwahati: Skipper Sam Curran played the lead act hitting a well-paced fifty and taking two wickets, as Punjab Kings consigned Rajasthan Royals to a five-wicket defeat in their IPL match here on Wednesday.

The target was a mere 145, but Kings made heavy weather of it on a sluggish track here but Curran (63 not out, 41b, 5×4, 3×6) had a calm head and skills to lift them to their fifth win of the season. PBKS made 145/5 in 18.5 overs.

The Englishman received good support from Jitesh Sharma (22, 20b) as the pair added 63 runs in a fluent fifth wicket partnership.

For Royals, it was their fourth defeat on the trot, but they remained second on the table with 16 points with a qualification to the playoffs to boot with.

The Kings’ chase began on a shaky note as they lost Prabhsimran Singh in the first over itself to Trent Boult.

But bigger jolts were in store as an impressive Avesh Khan (2/28) scalped two wickets in the fifth over.

The right-arm pacer first plucked the important wicket of Rilee Rossouw, who played some strong shots in his 13-ball 22, and then jettisoned in-form Shashank Singh for a two-ball naught.

Shashank failed to connect a fuller, straighter one from Avesh while attempting a flick, and the 141 kmph delivery thudded on his bat. Shashank did not even bother to use DRS as he walked away.

Punjab gained some ground through the alliance between Curran and Jitesh, who smoked R Ashwin for two sixes.

Curran too gave a dose of punishment to the veteran offie, lofting him for a wonderful six over extra cover.

But the blossoming stand was snapped by Yuzvendra Chahal (2/31), leaving PBKS at 111 for five in the 16th over.

However, Curran and Ashutosh Sharma (17 not out, 11 balls) knocked off the remaining runs without further drama.

Earlier, despite a well-tuned 48 from local hero Riyan Parag, RR struggled against an array of accurate bowlers on a rather slow pitch, meandering to a sub-par 144 for nine.

R Ashwin (28, 19b, 3×4, 1×6) and Parag (48, 34, 6×4) tried to accelerate during their 50-run stand for the fourth wicket but it could only bring in a temporary momentum for RR.

In fact, lethargy had set in very early in the Rajasthan innings after the early loss of Jaiswal, who chopped a Curran (2/24) delivery back on to his stumps.

Sanju Samson (18), who went past 500-run in a season for the first time in his IPL career, and Tom-Kohler Cadmore (18, 23b) stitched 36 runs for the second wicket but took six overs for it.

But with Curran and Arshdeep finding a hint of swing and maintaining a good line, scoring was not an easy proposition for the RR batters.

Eventually, Samson, who tried a hopping cut off pacer Nathan Ellis, gave a simple catch to Rahul Chahar at point in the seventh over.

Cadmore too returned to the dugout in the next over, as his almighty heave off leg-spinner Chahar (2/26) could not progress beyond Jitesh in the deep.

Those twin dismissals actually paved the way for the best phase in the Royals’ innings as Ashwin and Parag pressed their foot on the right pedal.

Ashwin displayed his batting skills, smashing Chahar for 17 runs in the 12th over that included a sequence of 6, 4, 4 and the first four was a stunning reverse scoop over backward point.

But he could not further extend his innings, lofting Arshdeep to Shashank.

Parag, usually a free-flowing batter, had to curb his flair in front of a hugely adoring home crowd because of the regular fall of wickets at the other end.

But a late cut off Curran that sped to third man stood as a testament of his ability and timing as he also moved past the 500-run mark for the season, before getting trapped in front of the wicket by Harshal Patel.

However, apart from conquering those little peaks the RR batters failed to slip into the top gear consistently.