Prominent sports figures including cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar, chess grandmaster Viswanathan Anand, renowned sprinter PT Usha, and football star Bhaichung Bhutia, are set to attend Ram Temple's Pran Pratistha ceremony on January 22.
According to a list obtained by PTI, the event on Monday will host over 500 state guests, comprising a diverse group of politicians, actors, sports celebrities, and industrialists.
The guest list includes other celebrated cricketers like World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev, 'little master' Sunil Gavaskar, Harbhajan Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Sourav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Virendra Sehwag, and Indian cricket coach Rahul Dravid.
Members of the current Indian cricket team, such as Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Rohit Sharma, and Harmanpreet Kaur, have also received invitations. Mithali Raj has also received invitation for the same.
Invitations have been extended to weightlifter Karnam Malleswari, footballer Kalyan Chaube, long-distance runner Kavita Raut Tungar, and Paralympic javelin thrower Devendra Jhanjadia, as well as women's cricket captain Mitali Raj, badminton players Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu, and their coach Pullela Gopichand. However, it remains uncertain how many of these invitees will be present at the inauguration of the 161-feet-tall pink sandstone shrine.
Talking about Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli, they are gearing up for the upcoming five-match Test series against England which is slated to start from January 25.
India's squad first two Tests vs England: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), KS Bharat (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Avesh Khan
England vs India's schedule for five-match Test series in 2024
1st Test: January 25-29, 2024 (Hyderabad)
2nd Test: February 2-6, 2024 (Vizag)
3rd Test: February 15-19, 2024 (Rajkot)
4th Test: February 23-27, 2024 (Ranchi)
5th Test: March 7-11, 2024 (Dharamsala)
(WITH PTI INPUTS)
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