The Indian cricket team is currently in Harare, Zimbabwe for the three-match ODI series against the hosts. Staying true to the theme of the 76th Independence Day of India, ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’, the Men in Blue hoisted the national flag in the Zimbabwean city, where all three matches will take place.
As the whole country celebrated the 75 years of independence from the British, every citizen, every household has welcomed the iconic day by hoisting the flag at their homes, so the national cricket team was no different as they did the same at the hotel they are staying, as they are away from home.
Skipper KL Rahul, stand-in head coach VVS Laxman, vice-captain Shikhar Dhawan were all present alongside the whole contingent including the players and the support staff with a flag hoisted in the hotel premises in the picture shared by BCCI.
Skipper Rahul had shared the video of a flag being hoisted in his hotel room on his Instagram story while his deputy Dhawan, shared a video of himself with a special message saying, “Independence Day is very close to my heart because our freedom fighters and several other people sacrificed their lives to help our country achieve freedom and I always pay gratitude towards them in my heart. Very grateful that because of them, our country is free. My wish is to see this country progress further and I wish everyone happy independence day.”
The second-string side in the absence of the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, and injured Jasprit Bumrah will take on Zimbabwe in three ODIs starting August 18. Rahul was named the captain after he was cleared fit while Dhawan was demoted to vice-captain.
India’s squad for three-match series: KL Rahul (c) Shikhar Dhawan (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Ishan Kishan (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Avesh Khan, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Siraj, Deepak Chahar
