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PM Modi Meets Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup Winning Team During Diplomatic Trip

Aakash Saini

PM Modi with Sri Lankan team [Source: @narendramodi/x]PM Modi with Sri Lankan team [Source: @narendramodi/x]

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met several members of Sri Lanka’s victorious 1996 World Cup winning team during his diplomatic visit to the island nation. Taking to his social media account, the Indian prime minister shared pictures of his meeting, where he can be seen accompanied by former cricketers Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Dharmasena, Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas among others.

Narendra Modi expressed his delight upon meeting with the team, and praised Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup winning squad, stating that the victorious group “captured the imagination of countless sports lovers”.

Indian PM meets Sri Lanka’s 1996 batch

On Saturday, April 5, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup winning cricketers like Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Dharmasena, Aravinda de Silva, Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas, Upul Chandana among others.

Apart from discussing cricket, and possibly geo-politics with the former Sri Lankan players, Narendra Modi also posed for a series of pictures, as shared by him on his social media accounts. In the caption, the Indian Prime Minister wrote:

“Delighted to interact with members of the 1996 Sri Lankan cricket team, which won the World Cup that year. This team captured the imagination of countless sports lovers!”

Sri Lanka, under the leadership of Arjuna Ranatunga, defeated Australia at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on March 17, 1996 to lift the 1996 ICC Cricket World Cup. Aravinda de Silva won the ‘Player of the Match’ award in the final for scoring an unbeaten 107 from 124 balls and for picking up three wickets. Sanath Jayasuriya, on the other hand, bagged the ‘Player of the Tournament’ award for tallying 221 runs and seven wickets in the tournament.

Notably, Sri Lanka defeated Team India at the Eden Gardens earlier in the semifinals.