T-20 International at Dharamsala on Feb 26-27

Tribune News Service

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, February 12

Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) officials today performed a yajna at the Indrunag temple for the successful conduct of two India-Sri Lanka T-20 matches on February 26 and 27.

After over three years, international cricket matches are being held in the Dharamsala international cricket stadium.

Director of the HPCA Sanjay Sharma, talking to The Tribune, said, “The matches will be organised without spectators due to Covid guidelines. We hope that in future as the cases go down, more international matches will be organised in Dharamsala.”

Teams would remain in bio bubble which means that they would not interact with anybody locally. Anybody entering the stadium during the event would have to produce a negative RT-PCR report, he said.

Indrunag is a local deity in Dharamsala and people believe it to be God of rain. It is the belief in locals that if the deity is not invited to any public event, it causes heavy rain, spoiling the event. Many international and T-20 matches in Dharamsala were washed away due to unpredictable rain. The HPCA officials now offer prayers to the deity and invite him for the international matches.

Meanwhile the hotel industry has welcomed the matches. Sanjeev Gandhi, general secretary of hotel association, said though the matches were being organised without spectators, the events would attract tourists to the region.

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