Bipin Dani
The players were not in whites. They were not in blues either but they still enjoyed playing cricket. The incident happened at the Mani this week.
Indian all-rounder cricketer Venkatesh Iyer took to Instagram and posted a video of him playing with a few children inside the premises of a temple in Tamil Nadu. The video soon went viral. While some users praised the ace cricketer, others opined that he should not have played inside the temple premises.
“I had actually gone for the darshan to the Manimandapam (Hindu temple in Orikkai, Tamil Nadu). Obviously, all young pujaris, the young ved pathshala students were excited to see me and they did all the rituals for me and I was surprised by their love for me”, the 28-year-old Venkatesh Iyer, who has played 2 ODIs’ and nine T-2OIs’ for the country, said exclusively over the telephone.
“Then they requested me to play cricket with them. Being a cricket lover, I could not refuse their invitation. They immediately set up playing for the cricket facilities. It was good to play a few balls with them. I understand cricket is such a popular game and is loved by everyone. It was a wonderful experience to play cricket with them”.
He played a match and even smashed a six with the students. “The love for the game is unbelievable. I had a great time with all the young Veda pathshala students in Kanchipuram’’ .
“We played the game in waist tee attire. It is a very common attire for the devotees visiting temples in South. It was a very traditional attire in Chennai and I was comfortable wearing it and playing with it”.
Reacting to the Iyer’s playing cricket in the temple complex, a fan wrote: “Kids sure had a dream come true moment” while another said: “What an inspiration of this generation youngsters. Well done man”.
