On Thursday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese attended the first day of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Ahmedabad. When the two prime ministers arrived at the stadium, they were felicitated with applause and then proceeded to present Test caps to their respective cricket captains before taking a lap of honour around the stadium.
The two Prime Ministers also stood with the teams to sing the National Anthem before the start of the play. PM Modi stood next to former Indian skipper Virat Kohli and current skipper Rohit Sharma. A picture of the same has been doing rounds on the internet.
The Ahmedabad stadium, which was renovated and reopened in 2021, was renamed in honour of PM Modi. The Indian prime minister, along with PM Anthony Albanese, greeted a large crowd with a lap of honour on a cricket-themed four-wheeler. The duo was present ahead of the fourth Test to celebrate ’75 years of Friendship’ between India and Australia.
Earlier, Australia captain Steve Smith won the toss and chose to bat in Ahmedabad. While the visitors remain unchanged in the series’ last match, India made one change, with Mohammed Shami replacing Mohammed Siraj. Shami was rested in the third Test due to workload management but was recalled to the XI in an important match for India in terms of qualifying for the Test Championship final.
While Australia qualified for the final with a win in Indore last week, India needs to win to advance directly to the final. If India fails to win the Test, their qualification chances will depend on the outcome of the two-Test series between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, which also began on Thursday.
India leads the four-match series 2-1 and has already reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The Indian team will thus retain the trophy for the third time in a row, after defeating Australia in the previous three series.
Here is how Twitter reacted to PM Narendra Modi singing the National Anthem with the Indian team
