[By Janaka Alahapperuma]
President Mahinda Rajapaksa felicitated the ICC WorldT20 Cricket Cup winning Sri Lankan national team at the Temple Trees on Tuesday night (08 April).
Congratulating the members of the team the President thanked them for bringing honour, glory and fame to the motherland. President Rajapaksa also told the team that he was proud of all of them and that he and all cricket lovers in the country were happy with the great performance of the national team.
The ICC World T20 Cricket Champions arrived Tuesday afternoon from Dhaka after their win on Sunday against India. The team was paraded from the Bandaranaike International Airport to the Galle Face in an open top double-decker bus and thousands of fans lined the streets to get a glimpse of the players. They were warmly welcomed and greeted by cricket loving Sri Lankan fans who lined the streets. On their way to the Galle Facethe team arrived at Temple Trees where they met President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Traffic came to a standstill as thousands of cheering fans lined the streets along a 30 kilometre route to welcome home the Sri Lankan cricket team who touched down at Katunayake following their triumph at the World Twenty20 tournament. Eighteen years after winning the 50-overs World Cup in 1996, the Sri Lankan cricket team again sparked jubilation across the island nation after beating favourites India in last Sunday’s Twenty20 final.
Sri Lankan parliament will award a red carpet welcome to Sri Lanka’s winning national cricket team at the House. The cricketers are expected to visit Parliament today (09) at 5pm where they will be felicitated by all the members of Parliament from both the government and the opposition.
Pix by: Sudath Silva
