India's T20 world champions finally left Barbados for New Delhi on a chartered flight from the Grantley Adams International airport in Bridgetown on Wednesday after being stranded for three days because of a category 4 hurricane, which forced the airport there to be shut down.
The special Air India flight AIC24WC (Air India Champions 24 World Cup) took off around 4.50am local time and will land in New Delhi on Thursday at around 6.20am IST.
The India players, the support staff, the players' families and some board officials are aboard the flight along with members of the travelling media contingent. The flight was arranged by the BCCI.
The Boeing 777, which took off from New Jersey on July 2, landed in Barbados around 2am local time at the Grantley Adams International airport, which resumed its operations on Tuesday. The team was scheduled to leave around 6pm local time on July 2 and arrive at 7.45pm IST on Wednesday but that was delayed as the plane landed late in Barbados.
India won the T20 World Cup title after pulling off a thrilling seven-run win over South Africa in the final on Saturday.
The players are set to be felicitated by India prime minister Narendra Modi within hours of returning to the country. Plans are also afoot to have a roadshow in Mumbai to honour the team, who won a senior ICC trophy after a gap of 11 years.