Amid the Bharat-India renaming row, it is #BHAvsPAK which is trending on social media as India are taking on Pakistan at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo for their Asia Cup. Notably, there has been a debate around the renaming of the South Asian country ever since it appeared in President Draupadi Murmu’s invitation for a dinner for foreign dignitaries attending the G20 summit in New Delhi.
In addition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he was the leader representing 'Bharat' at the G20 summit in his opening remarks of the two-day ceremony in the national capital. There are divided opinions on the issue but with India vs Pakistan happening in Colombo, #BHAvsIND for Bharat vs Pakistan began trending on social media.
Former India opening batsman turned commentator Virender Sehwag has also expressed his viewpoint, suggesting that for the upcoming 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, the player's shirts should display "Bharat" instead of "India".
"Team India nahin #TeamBharat. This World Cup as we cheer for Kohli , Rohit , Bumrah, Jaddu , may we have Bharat in our hearts and the players wear jersey which has “Bharat” @JayShah," Sehwag tweeted.
Talking about the IND vs PAK Asia Cup Super Four match in Colombo, Pakistan won the toss and elected to field first but the Indian openers got off to a splendid start with each of them scoring half-centuries. While Rohit Sharma scored 56 off 49, Shubman Gill scored 58 off 52. The two batters got out in quick succession and Virat Kohli and KL Rahul were out in the middle when rain came in at the 24.1 Overs mark with India on 147/2.