NEW DELHI: Legendary cricketers Anil Kumble and Venkatesh Prasad have reached Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh to attend the Ram Temple ‘Pran Pratishtha’ ceremony on Monday. The star-studded guest list for the event includes Sachin Tendulkar, World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev, the ‘little master’ Sunil Gavaskar, as well as Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, Virendra Sehwag, and Indian cricket coach Rahul Dravid.
In anticipation of this special occasion, South Africa’s star spinner Keshav Maharaj conveyed a beautiful message to the Indian community a day before the Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha ceremony.
Maharaj shared a video message on social media, expressing his sentiments.
“Namaste everyone. I just want to wish Mahesh (diplomat) and the Indian community here in South Africa all the best for the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya tomorrow. May it bring peace, harmony and spiritual enlightenment to all,” Maharaj said.
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For Maharaj, the Durban-born cricketer of Indian origin, Lord Ram is his greatest strength.
“For me, God’s been my greatest blessing and if I get an opportunity it’s the least I can do and it gets you in the zone and get that respect from other players. Respecting religion and culture is important but it’s a nice feeling to hear ‘Ram Siya Ram’ being played in the background,” Maharaj had said during the series against India.
It’s a rare occurrence to have devotional music playing at a cricket ground, but when Maharaj made his entrance during the India-South Africa Test and white-ball series, the in-stadia DJ received a special request: the ‘Ram Siya Ram Jai Jai Ram’ song.
Surprisingly, the request had come directly from the South African left-arm spinner, which even prompted India skipper KL Rahul to humorously ask him, “Every time you enter, they play that song.”
During the Cape Town Test, as Maharaj stepped up to bat, a touching scene unfolded with Virat Kohli standing with folded hands, adding a spiritual note to the cricketing atmosphere.
“It was obviously something I put forward to the media lady and requested that song to be played,” Maharaj had said.
India wicketkeeper batsman KS Bharat, who is the part of the India squad for the five-match Test series against England, recently notched up a century against England Lions.