The Indian cricket team attended a reception at the historic Long Room in Lord's on Monday, where captain Virat Kohli, former Captain M S Dhoni were surrounded by fans for photos and comments. With some hoping for an India-England final at the ICC Champions Trophy, Captain Kohli assured the supporters that they are ready for 'any rival'. The High Commissioner of India to UK HE Y K Sinha, who was accompanied by wife Girija Sinha, addressed the audience and recalled the ties between two countries. He also hoped that India and England meet in the ongoing Champions Trophy final but added, “And may the best team win”.
The event was a precursor to the Cricket@IndiaUK exhibition at the Nehru Centre in London as part of the UK-India Year of Culture 2017. Curated by the Nehru Science Centre, Mumbai, the new exhibition celebrates the shared love of both UK and India - Cricket – for centuries- and opens in London and tours to Birmingham and Edinburgh. The exhibition is presented at the Nehru Centre in London from 12th June to 23rd June, will be in Birmingham from 1st July to 7th July and at The Grange Club in Edinburgh from 15th July to 23rd July 2017.
Cricket, the Englishman's gift to India, has now become a religion and passion for most Indians, uniting people of different cultures, languages, religions, castes and creeds infusing a Nationalistic fervour among all the citizens of the Country. India now dominates the Cricket Administration both politically and economically and every cricket playing country and player loves to play cricket in India in front of thousands of cricket crazy spectators. An illustrated book titled ‘Cricket Connects: India-England Cricket Relations’ was published along with the exhibition, tracing the various aspects of the game in India over history.
In the room was also present was actor Sharmila Tagore, Isa Guha, Monty Panesar as well as legends Mike Brearley and Farokh Engineer and contemporary icons such as Dilip Doshi, Andrew Strauss and Anil Kumble.
The event was compered by Dr Aseem Vohra, Second Secretary in Public Diplomacy, High Commission of India and the players were interviewed by Sport journalist and Indian Journalists' Association President Ashis Ray.
