Indian Women's Cricket Team Visits Temple Before T20I Clash with Sri Lanka

Team's Spiritual Visit Ahead of the Match

On December 22, the Indian women's cricket team made a visit to the Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, prior to their second T20I match against Sri Lanka.

Among the players who attended were Smriti Mandhana, Harmanpreet Kaur, Renuka Singh, Shafali Verma, Amarpreet Kaur, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gowd, and Sri Charani. This temple is a well-known pilgrimage site in the region.

Umpires DS Lakshmi and Brinda Rathi also joined the team at the temple.

Upon their arrival, the players received a warm welcome from temple officials, including Assistant Executive Officer Tirumaleswara Rao and Supervising Officer K Venkateswara Rao, who honored them with traditional ceremonies.

The cricketers engaged in prayers to the deity, took part in special rituals inside the sanctum sanctorum, and interacted with the sacred Kappasthambham located within the temple grounds.

After their darshan, Vedic scholars offered blessings to the players. The temple authorities presented them with sacred silk garments and prasadam. The players expressed their wishes for ongoing success for the nation and sought divine blessings for future triumphs.

The Indian women's team is set to face Sri Lanka Women at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on December 22.

In their opening match of the five-match series, the Women in Blue secured a convincing eight-wicket victory against Sri Lanka.

Jemimah Rodrigues was a standout performer, scoring an impressive 69 runs off 44 balls, hitting 10 fours while chasing a target of 122. India completed the chase in just 14.4 overs. Jemimah also matched Mithali Raj's record of four T20I scores over 50 against Sri Lanka.

She formed a 54-run partnership for the second wicket with Smriti Mandhana and an unbroken 55-run partnership with captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who finished not out on 15.

Sri Lanka Women had set a target of 121/6, with Vishmi Gunaratne being the top scorer at 39. Deepti Sharma led the Indian bowling attack with impressive figures of 1/20, while Kranti Gaud and Shree Charani each took a wicket.