Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav & Washington Sundar Offer Prayers At Ujjain's Mahakaleswar Temple For Rishabh Pant's Speedy Recovery

The Men in Blue are set to play their third ODI of the series against New Zealand at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Tuesday (January 24).

As is the mandate for attending the Bhasm Aarti, the Indian players were seen wearing traditional attire- dhoti and angavastram.

Source : ANI

Members of the Indian cricket team who are in Indore for the third and final ODI of the home series against New Zealand visited Ujjain's famous Mahakaleswar Temple to offer their prayer. The players who went to Ujjain to pay a visit to the temple include star batter Suryakumar Yadav along with Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar. The three of them reached the temple with the Indian cricket team staff early on Monday morning to witness the the Bhasm Aarti ritual.

After their visit, Suryakumar told the media that they prayed for the speedy recovery of fellow India cricketer Rishabh Pant. Notably, Pant was driving from Delhi to Roorkee when he reportedly dozed off while driving. He sustained serious injuries in the car crash in December 2022 and continues to recover from them at a private hospital in Mumbai.

While he has been ruled out of IPL 2023, some reports have even ruled him out of the ODI World Cup in October.

"We prayed for the speedy recovery of Rishabh Pant. His comeback is very important to us. We have already won the series against New Zealand, looking forward to the final match against them," Suryakumar Yadav was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Madhya Pradesh | Indian cricketers Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, and Washington Sundar visited Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain and performed Baba Mahakal's Bhasma Aarti. pic.twitter.com/nnyFRLMbfa

— ANI (@ANI) January 23, 2023

As is the mandate for attending the Bhasm Aarti, the Indian players were seen wearing traditional attire- dhoti and angavastram.

India to take on New Zealand in final ODI of home series against New Zealand on Tuesday

The Men in Blue are set to play their third ODI of the series against New Zealand at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Tuesday(January 24). The hosts have already clinched the series having won the first two matches. While it was a thriller of a game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium where Shubman Gill's record-shattering double hundred got India to 349 before Michael Bracewell's 140 off 78 took the BlackCaps close but couldn't help them get over the line.

The second ODI, by contrast, was a fairly one-sided fixture with India winning the toss and opting to bowl before restricting the opposition to 108. In response, India chased down the total with 179 balls remaining.

"The last five games, bowlers have really stepped up. Whatever we have asked of them, they have stepped up and delivered. You don't usually see this type of seam movement in India, you generally see it outside India. These guys have some serious skills, they work really hard and it's great to see them being rewarded," India skipper Rohit Sharma who himself scored a flamboyant half-century in the second ODI, said after the game.

"We trained yesterday and the ball was nipping around under lights. We knew that if they had 250 or so, it might have been challenging for us but that was the point of opting to chase. We batted first last game, so the idea was to challenge ourselves," he added.

"Not sure what I'll do at Indore (in the final game). The confidence is high within the group and that's great to see. They (Shami and Siraj) were raring to keep bowling long spells but I reminded them that there is a Test series coming up as well (Australia at home), so we need to take care of themselves as well," the 35-year-old said.