Team India players visited the famous Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain ahead of the third ODI against New Zealand. Suryakumar Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav and Washington Sundar were visible among other members of the Indian contingent as they offered their prayers to Mahakal for Rishabh Pant’s speedy recovery. Pant, who recently underwent a knee ligament surgery, met with an accident on December 30 on the Delhi-Dehradun highway while driving and suffered several serious injuries. Since then, he has been in hospital and is unlikely to come back to cricketing action before 4-6 months.
Ahead of the third ODI at the Holkar Stadium in Indore on Tuesday, January 24, the Indian team including the players and the support staff went to the temple. Speaking to the news agency ANI, Surya said that Pant’s return is extremely important to the Indian team and prayed for his quick recovery. “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 told ANI.
The players also participated in the early morning ‘Bhasma Aarti’ while being dressed in traditional attire.
The Indian team has already sealed the three-match series, with a game in hand owing to a sensational performance in the second ODI in Raipur. The Indian bowlers ran riot reducing New Zealand to 15/5 at one point and eventually bowling them out for 108 before the batters, led by skipper Rohit Sharma’s half-century, chased it down without much trouble.
Pant is set to be discharged from the hospital in a few days, however, his recovery will take at least two months and he needs to recover not just physically but mentally too, as the doctors told a BCCI source that the wicket-keeper batter will require counseling sessions as well. Pant is ruled out of Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the 2023 edition of the IPL and will be facing a race against time to be fit for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in October-November.
