Despite the heavy rain, Pune's cricket fans showed up in large numbers for the ICC World Cup 2023 trophy parade on Tuesday.
The parade started at 1 pm outside the JW Marriott Hotel and went through various parts of the city like Senapati Bapat Road, Symbiosis College, BMCC College, and Fergusson College Road, before ending at the Agriculture College, where they displayed the prestigious trophy.
Leading the parade was Rohit Pawar, an MLA from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the head of the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA). He was joined by former cricketers Kedar Jadhav and Chandu Borde, adding some cricketing star power to the event.
Pune had been waiting for nearly 27 years to host World Cup matches. The last time was in 1996 when the Nehru Stadium in Swargate saw a game between Kenya and West Indies, which Kenya won by 73 runs. In 2011, the MCA stadium was supposed to host the World Cup, but it didn't happen because of construction delays. Now, Pune is finally getting another chance to be part of the World Cup cricket excitement.