Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid the Indian team a visit in their Ahmedabad changing room after their devastating loss to Australia in the 2023 World Cup final last Sunday. In addition to meeting with every player on the team and speaking with Rahul Dravid, Mohammed Shami, Ravindra Jadeja, skipper Rohit Sharma, and Virat Kohli, the PM gave consolation to the players.
Jadeja and Shami also shared a photo of themselves with the prime minister on their official X (formerly Twitter) accounts, expressing gratitude to the leader for the gesture.
Team India made a comeback to action this week in the game’s shortened format, led by World Cup squad member Suryakumar Yadav. After playing in the championship match, Suryakumar met Prime Minister Modi in the team’s changing rooms. He talked extensively about their encounter during the team’s current Twenty20 international series against Australia.
“After the loss, we were in the dressing room and our country’s Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji came to the dressing room and met everyone and gave us motivation. He said that it’s a sport and winning and losing is a part of it, ups and downs do come. He asked us to take it in stride. It will surely take some time to get over the loss but his motivating speech for 5-6 minutes meant a lot.
As a country’s leader, coming to the dressing room to motivate a sports team, it was a big thing for us. We heard him really well. Spent time with him,” said Suryakumar Yadav.
“Its been 4-5 days since the World Cup 2023 finals and everyone is disappointed, we are disappointed. It was nice to see the kind of support our fans in India and from all over the world showed. At the end of the day, it’s a sport, it teaches us a lot. Keep showering your love on us,” said Suryakumar Yadav.
