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Bangalore: The victorious World Cup Indian under-19 cricket team were given a rousing reception by hundreds of cheering and tri-colour waving fans at the airport and along the 10-km journey of the young heroes from the airport to the Chinnaswamy stadium here on Tuesday.
Shouts of "Chak diya India", "World champs zindabad" and "Welcome home, heroes" greeted the players at the airport.
The team led by Virat Kohli defeated South Africa in the World Cup under-19 final in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Sharad Pawar, former Test cricketer and secretary of Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), Brijesh Patel, entrepreneur Vijay Mallya, who owns the Bangalore team for Indian Premier League (IPL), and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah received the team at the airport.
The team flew in to Bangalore in a chartered aircraft of Kingfisher Airlines.
A group of young women dressed in pink sarees sang patriotic songs and firecrackers were burst as the team members got into an open bus, bedecked with flowers and saffron, white and green coloured balloons for the 10-km journey to the Chinnaswamy Stadium for a reception. The procession took over 90 minutes to reach the stadium.
The bus was decorated with huge pictures of the team celebrating the victory in Kuala Lumpur.
The players carried the national flag and waved at the hundreds of people along the route. Several fans captured the moment on their cell phones.
A number of fans at the airport carried garlands, but had to be content with throwing them at the bus as they could not get through the police cordon.
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