India head coach Gautam Gambhir visited Maa Pitambara Temple in Datia on Friday morning and offered prayers on the second day of Shardiya Navratri ahead of India vs Bangladesh 1st T20I which is scheduled to take place at Shrimant Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Stadium in Gwalior. This is the first time after a long gap of 14 years Gwalior is hosting an international game.
Gambhir was dressed in traditional attire, he sought the deity's blessings and temple officials honoured him.
Navratri, which means 'nine nights' in Sanskrit, is dedicated to the worship of Goddess Durga and her nine avatars, known as Navdurga.
Hindus observe four Navratris throughout the year, but only two--Chaitra Navratri and Shardiya Navratri--are widely celebrated, as they coincide with the changing of the seasons.
Gambhir was recently with an Indian Test team led by Rohit Sharma for the two-Test match series against Bangladesh where Men in Blue registered dominating victories to whitewash the series.
After Rohit Sharma-led India's domination in Tests, Suryakumar Yadav-led side will look to repeat the same in the upcoming T20Is. India all-rounder Hardik Pandya is also part of India's squad for the series. Sanju Samson and Jitesh Sharma have been picked as the wicketkeeper-batters against Bangladesh.
Nitish Kumar Reddy and Mayank Yadav will eye their debut in the three-match T20I series. The first match of the series will be played at Gwalior on October 6 followed by the second and third matches to be played on October 9 (Delhi) and October 12 (Hyderabad), respectively.
India's T20I squad for Bangladesh series: Suryakumar Yadav (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Riyan Parag, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana, and Mayank Yadav.
