South Mumbai came to a standstill as India's T20 World champions paraded the streets with the trophy they won in Bridgetown, Barbados, on June 29 after beating South Africa in the final.
There were massive traffic snarls as an ocean of people converged on Marine Drive to witness the victory parade on Thursday evening.
Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, the last station on Central Railway's route, and Churchgate, the last station on the Western Railway, were crowded as people from various parts of the metropolis made their way to the southern tip right to watch the parade.
Roads reverberated with slogans of "Bharat Mata Ki Jai", "Vande Mataram" and "India! India!" as Tricolour-waving and blue jersey-clad crowds braved the intermittent rain to catch a glimpse of Rohit Sharma's team that brought T20 cricket's coveted prize home after 17 years.
SEE: Fans Celebrate On Marine Drive
Roads in the vicinity of the Wankhede stadium saw heavy parking since afternoon, while megaphone wielding Railway Protection Force and railway police personnel manned stations, guiding fans to the iconic Marine Drive.
By 4:45 pm, traffic was stopped towards Marine Drive and the cascading effect left other roads in the southern part of Mumbai in chaos as well, with vehicles lined up bumper to bumper as traffic moved at a constipated snail's pace.
Party Time For Fans In Mumbai
The victory parade, even though it was delayed by a couple of hours, had roads completely packed by the cricket-crazy fans of Mumbai. It turned out to be a memorable evening for the players, many of whom experienced such a rapturous welcome for the first time in their lives.
The evening concluded with a felicitation ceremony at the icon Wankhede stadium, where the BCCI awarded the Indian team a whopping cash prize of Rs 125 crore (Rs 1.25 billion) for winning the T20 World Cup.
'The huge turnout of fans to welcome us shows they were as desperate for this T20 World Cup title as we were,' Captain Rohit Sharma said after the victory parade.
How the fans celebrated a special evening in Mumbai:
