AIC24WC — a special chartered flight that denotes Air India Champions 24 World Cup has been arranged by the BCCI to carry the Rohit Sharma-led newly crowned World Champions home after the celebrations were confined to Barbados for the past three days because of a category 4 hurricane, which forced the Grantley Adams International airport in Bridgetown to be shut down.
According to a source, the aircraft ferrying the Indian players, support staff, some players’ families, a few board officials along with members of the travelling media contingent, took off around 4.50am local time and will land in New Delhi on Thursday at around 6.20am IST.
The team was originally scheduled to leave Bridgetown by 6pm local time and reach India at 7.45pm IST on Wednesday but due to late arrival of the flight from New Jersey (at around 2am), the scheduled departure of the Indians were delayed by a few hours.
The players are set to be felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a breakfast meet, within hours of returning to the country. There are also plans to have a roadshow in Mumbai to honour the team, who won a senior ICC trophy after a gap of 11 years.
In Mumbai, the team is expected to take a short ride on an open-top bus from the National Centre for Performing Arts in Nariman Point to the iconic Wankhede Stadium at 4 pm on Thursday evening.