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“What we saw on the streets tonight is something I’m never going to forget in my life,” says Kohli after open-top bus parade in Mumbai
The Indian players show off the T20 World Cup trophy on their open-top bus parade • AFP/Getty Images
Virat Kohli felt the T20 World Cup was going to “slip away” from India at one point of Saturday’s thrilling final against South Africa. Five days later, while celebrating their victory with thousands of fans in Mumbai, he asked that Jasprit Bumrah be applauded for his “phenomenal” show to bring them back into the final.
“Like everyone in the stadium [here], we also felt at one point if it is going to slip away again, but what happened in those [last] five overs was truly, truly special,” Kohli said, at the team’s felicitation at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday night. “You know what I’d like everyone to do is applaud a guy who brought us back into games again and again and again in this tournament. What he did in those last five overs, bowling two out of the last five overs, it was phenomenal. A huge round of applause for Jasprit Bumrah, please.”
South Africa needed 30 runs off 30 balls, having ransacked 38 off the previous two overs, when Bumrah came back for his third over. He went on to concede just four runs off the 16th over, and two off the 18th, also knocking over Marco Jansen, as India completed an incredible heist. That win, India’s first World Cup title in 13 years, was being celebrated in Mumbai, with thousands lining Marine Drive as India’s bus drove past on its way to the Wankhede. The stadium, too, was filled to capacity hours before the team’s arrival, with fans braving rain.
Kohli said he will “never forget” the reception he and the Indian team received. “A big thank you to all the people who turned up in the stadium,” he said. “What we saw on the streets tonight is something I’m never going to forget in my life.
“The last four days have been a roller-coaster of a ride. As soon as we won the World Cup, we wanted to get out of Barbados, get back to India and celebrate with everyone. We got stuck in the hurricane, so it was an anti-climactic feeling. But since we’ve been back, it’s been phenomenal.
Kohli said he had never seen Rohit Sharma as emotional as he was in the moment after India’s victory in Bridgetown. Social media was ablaze with pictures of the two embracing each other on the way up the stairs of the dressing room at Kensington Oval. “I don’t know about breaking the internet, but for the first time in 15 years of playing together, I saw Rohit show so much emotion on the field,” Kohli said. “When I was walking up the steps, I was crying, he was crying and we hugged. For me, that is going to be a very special memory from that day.”
Rohit said he was “relieved” to end India’s long wait for a global title. “Bringing the World Cup to this country means the world to us. This is for the people who support and watch the game, and, along with all of us, for the last 11 years, they’re the ones who’ve been wanting this trophy to come back. Finally it’s here, and I’m very happy and relieved.”
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