King Charles III hosted two Indian teams at St. James Palace in London on Tuesday. The event was India’s men’s captain Shubman Gill, female captain Harmanpreet Kaur, team members and coaching staff.Talking to Annie, Shukla said, “It was a very historical opportunity that both our men and women teams were invited by King Charles today and got them very well in the palace. The players are very happy as they asked all the personal details of each player. He asked Saikia ji (BCCI Secretary Devjit Saikia) and asked me if Arun Jaitley is my friend, what happened to him, and when I told him that he had died, he asked me to give condolences to his family. He also asked about Akash Deep’s sister’s illness. ,He said, “He had a lot of details. He looked like a gentleman, and it did not seem that we were talking to the king of England. He is very humble and the team is very happy to meet him,” he said.Shukla further revealed that King Charles also discussed the thrilling third Test at Lord’s, called Mohammad Sirj’s dismissal “unfortunate”, as the ball returned to the stump after retreating. The moment ended India’s late resistance in his chase of 193, resulting in a loss of 22 runs.
“Even he paid attention to this fact. If we had another regular batsman on the field, we could easily win. Our team has proved that we have been used well (to send a young team), as part of which we have sent a new team as we are ready for the future. The team has proved itself a fighter unit. We almost won here. We performed well in Leeds. Our team is competing equally with England and will win the series as two matches are left, “he said.Commenting on the leadership of Shubman Gill, Shukla praised the young captain for responding to critics with both leadership and run.“He has also proved himself with the bat. A century, then a dual century and a century, what could be better than this?” Added the BCCI vice president.On the absence of senior players of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who retired from tests before the series, Shukla said that his decision was honored by individual and board.BCCI Vice President Rajiv Shukla was also present in the meeting and UK, High Commissioner of India, Vikram Doriswami. While the men’s team is currently engaged in a five-observance series in England, the women’s team recently won a historic 3-2 T20I series and will now play three ODIs starting on Wednesday in Southampton.DURING The Meeting, King Charles had a brief chat with Shubman Gill, where the two discuced the dramatic ending of the third test. Referring to Sirj’s dismissal, the king commented on the misfortune of the ball, which rolled back to hit the stump. Gill replied, “This is a cricket game.”
Charles also shared a light-hearted moment with the vice-captain Rishabh Pant and Paes Spearhead Jaspreet Bumrah during his conversation. He later interacted with the rest of the squad, which included Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and head coach Gautam Gambhir. Subsequently, she also spent time with the Indian women’s team.Before meeting the king, the Indian party also had an informal conversation with British actor and musician Idris Elba. Talking with Gill, Bumrah and Pant, Elba said, “I would say that I am a fan, but I do not follow cricket and I should also do it. I was just a small bowler, it is all.” She later spoke to members of the women’s team.Following the group’s photos, King Charles also spoke to India’s quick Prasad Krishna and Batter Karun Nair, and met the uncapulated left Paper Pesar Arshdeep Singh.Gill described the experience of meeting King Charles a memorable: “It was surprising. I think he was very kind and generous to be able to call us here, and it was a pleasure to meet the king, and we had some good conversations. ,He also talked about the reference to the king of the dramatic final moments of the Prabhu’s testing: “Yes, he told us that the way our last batsman came out was quite unfortunate. The ball was rolling over the stump, and he was just asking us how we feel after that, and we told him that it was an unfortunate match for us. It could have gone in any way, but hopefully we will have better luck in the next games. ,Harmanpreet Kaur also shared her views saying, “Uh, it was a very good experience. Uh, we came to England many times, but this was our first time when we met him, and he was very favorable. He asked us, like, how was the journey and all, and, Um, it was really good to meet him.”“Certainly, we are playing good cricket, and I think we are getting a lot of opportunities to express ourselves, so really there is happiness that the way things are moving,” he said.Amol Mujumdar, the head coach of the women’s team, also reflected at this time, saying, “It has been a very humble experience to come to the Royal House and meet the king. It has been the first time, so we came all the way from Southampton, but it was really worth it, and the girls were really excited about this journey, and we are happy that we are here.”