Gautam Gambhir, SuryaKumar Yadav praying at Shree Siddhivinayak Temple Members of India’s national cricket team continued their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup triumph with a visit to the Shree Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai on Saturday, despite their previous visit to the temple sparking controversy following remarks by former cricket politician Kirti Azad.Head coach Gautam Gambhir and captain Suryakumar Yadav along with ICC chairman Jay shah had earlier visited the trophy temple in Ahmedabad after the win and offered prayers despite the controversy surrounding the earlier visit.Kirti Azad questions the temple visitThe debate started after Kirti Azad criticized the team’s decision to take the trophy to the temple, arguing that winning the World Cup belongs to all Indians irrespective of religion.“140 million people were thrilled when Team India, which includes people of all religions, won. An athlete or a sport does not belong to any religion or caste, only to sports,” Azad said. “Why not a mosque? Why not a church? Why not a gurudwara? The trophy belongs to 1.4 billion Indians of every faith, the victory lap of not one religion,” he added. Harbhajan Singh criticizes Azad’s remarksFormer India spinner Harbhajan Singh strongly criticized Azad’s comments and accused him of unnecessarily politicizing the issue.“It is absurd that someone is politicizing players who take the trophy to the temple. Kirti himself is a former cricketer so I did not expect him to say such a thing. Maybe he prefers politics more and forgot that he is a sportsman,” Harbhajan said. “I expected more because when they take on such a big task, the reward should be even bigger. But congratulations to the team for showing everyone how mighty India is,” he added.Gambhir also defends the team’s celebrationGautam Gambhir also defended the team’s actions, saying the controversy was unnecessary and risked overshadowing the players’ achievements.“This question is not even worth answering. It is a huge moment for the entire country and we should celebrate the World Cup winners,” Gambhir said in an interview with ANI.“If you want to dilute the achievements of these 15 players and their efforts, then tomorrow anyone can make any statement and we’ll start taking it seriously. That’s not fair to the boys.”“The guys have been under so much pressure. If you make statements like that today, you’re degrading your own players and your own team.The players brushed the controversy asideMeanwhile, India batsman Ishan Kishan dismissed questions about the controversy and urged the media to focus on the team’s historic achievement instead.“Winning the World Cup is a great thing. You should ask good questions. What can I say about what Kirti Azad said? Please ask good questions to make it enjoyable,” Kishan said.
