Team India on Saturday scripted history after they defeated South Africa in a last over thriller to lift the T20 World Cup after 17 years in Barbados, West Indies. Rohit Sharma & Co overcame the fear of losing crunch matches and displayed exemplenary performance to lift their second IC T20 World Cup. With this, Rohit Sharma became only the second Indian Captain to lift T20 World Cup after MS Dhoni. MS Dhoni won the ICC T20 World Cup in 2007. With India fans eagerly waiting to welcome Rohit Sharma & Co, they might have to wait longer. As per reports, Team India is stuck in hotel in Barbados as the city is under complete lockdown. Earlier, Team India was expected to arrive in New Delhi by Tuesday but now it is not possible.
Why Team India is stuck in Barbados?
The answer is Hurricane Beryl. As per YouTuber & journalist Vimal Kumar who is also in West Indies, Team India was expected to fly out to New York from Barbados on Monday night. From New York, the Men In Blue were expected to board a connecting flight to India via Dubai. Due to the reserve day on June 30, Team India did not fly to New Delhi and remained in Barbados. However, West Indies announced its season's first Hurricane. As a precautionary measure due to Hurricane Beryl, Barbados Airport was closed, citizens were advised o stay indoors and no public transport were allowed to function. This left the T20 World Cup 2024 champions stuck in their hotel.
The YouTuber further revealed that after Team India won the T20 World Cup, BCCI Secretary arranged a chartered flight to carry the Men In Blue direct to New Delhi from Barbados. However, due to Hurricane Beryl, the charcatered flight was allowed to fly. Hence, the chartered flight which was expected to come from New York remained grounded.
Now, it is expected that after the Hurricane Beryl passes West Indies, Team India will board the chartered flight til Tuesday evening or night. Therefore, it can be said that Team India will land in New Delhi on Wednesday morning. Thereafter, the Men In Blue will stay in a hotel for refreshments and then the T20 World Champions 2024 will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It is expected that a victory lap will also take place, however, there is no confirmation over it as of now.
For the unversed, Beryl is the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season. As per US media reports, it intensified to an extremely dangerous Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph Sunday, as it made its way toward the Windward Islands.