Star Indian cricketer Virat Kohli expressed his joy and gratitude after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, along with members of the T20 World Cup-winning Indian team, over breakfast at the PM’s residence. Kohli shared his sentiments on Instagram, saying, “What a great honour meeting our honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji today @narendramodi Thank you sir for inviting us to the prime minister’s residence.”
Despite a challenging T20 World Cup, Kohli played a crucial role in the final against South Africa. He anchored the innings with a pivotal 76-run knock, which came off 59 balls at a strike rate of 128.81, including six fours and two sixes. This performance was significant after he scored only 75 runs in the first seven innings of the tournament. Kohli ended the World Cup with 151 runs in eight innings at an average of 18.87 and a strike rate of 112.68, before announcing his retirement from international T20s.
Throughout his T20 World Cup career, Kohli amassed 1,292 runs in 35 matches, averaging 58.72 with a strike rate of 128.81, including 15 half-centuries. In T20I matches, he scored 4,188 runs in 125 games, averaging 48.69 with a strike rate of 137.04, including a century and 38 fifties.
Following their meeting with the Prime Minister, the victorious team headed to the Delhi airport for a flight to Mumbai, where a grand victory parade was scheduled at Marine Drive and Wankhede Stadium. Shiv Sena leader Pratap Sarnaik announced that Mumbai players, including captain Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav, Shivam Dubey, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, would meet Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at the Assembly.
Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) Secretary Ajinkya Naik stated that the victory parade would offer free entry to the public. Earlier, the team received a warm welcome upon their arrival in Delhi, following a flight organized by BCCI Secretary Jay Shah. The squad, support staff, families, and media were initially stranded in Barbados due to Hurricane Beryl, but they arrived in Delhi on Thursday morning.
The team stayed at the ITC Maurya hotel before meeting PM Modi, where they celebrated by cutting a special cake featuring the T20 World Cup trophy. The cake-cutting ceremony included stars like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid, and Hardik Pandya. The team wore a special jersey with two stars over the BCCI emblem, symbolizing their two T20 World Cup wins, and the word ‘CHAMPIONS’ prominently displayed.
India ended a 13-year ICC World Cup trophy drought by defeating South Africa by seven runs in the final. Kohli’s 76 helped India post 176/7, while Hardik Pandya (3/20) and Jasprit Bumrah (2/18) were instrumental in restricting South Africa to 169/8. Bumrah, with 15 wickets and a remarkable economy rate of 4.17 throughout the tournament, was named ‘Player of the Tournament.’