Cricketers graced the occasion of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant's sangeet function at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre (NMACC) in Mumbai. In the star-studded function, the who's who of the entertainment and the sports arena arrived including the T20 World Cup 2024 winners Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav alongside others.
Having endured a tough time during the previous six months, Hardik Pandya has become one of the fan favourites as seen during India's victory celebrations at the Wankhede Stadium where fans were chanting his name.
Nita Ambani addressed the star-studded gathering. "We are all family here. But I have another family, which has made the nation proud and has made everybody's heart swell with pride and because of who the celebrations don't stop. So, I cannot tell you what an overwhelming feeling it is to have my Mumbai Indians family here with me tonight. Tonight is a day of celebration, but tonight besides Anant and Radhika, we are going to celebrate India," Nita said during the function.
Rohit also addressed the gathering after being invited by Nita on the stage. "Bringing the World Cup to this country means the world to us. This is for the people who support and watch the game, and, along with all of us, for the last 11 years, they're the ones who've been wanting this trophy to come back. Finally, it's here, and I'm very happy and relieved," the Indian ODI and Test skipper said.
She invited Suryakumar Yadav to the stage. "One boy standing on the boundary had all our hearts in our mouths. The one boy Mr Suryakumar Yadav," she said while calling SKY on the stage. She asked Hardik Pandya to come to the stage too. "There is one teenager that we discovered. Who were all holding their breaths in the last over. He proved one thing tough times don't last forever, tough people do. The biggest round of applause for Hardik Pandya," she said while calling Pandya up.
India have ended their lomg-awaited ICC trophy drought with the win in the 2024 World Cup. The last time India had won an ICC title before this was in 2013 when the MS Dhoni-led team won the Champions Trophy. India's last World Cup was way back in 2011 in the ODI format and the last T20 crown was in 2007.
