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Gambhir and SKY seek divine blessings with Puri Srimandir visit ahead of Cuttack T2oI vs SA

Mayank

The India captain and coach visited the Jagannath Temple in Puri [Source- SirronOfficial, OTV/X.com]The India captain and coach visited the Jagannath Temple in Puri [Source- SirronOfficial, OTV/X.com]

Hours ahead of the opening T20I match of the five-game series against South Africa, India captain Suryakumar Yadav and head coach Gautam Gambhir were spotted during their visit to the famous Jagannath Puri temple on Tuesday morning. As per reports, several other support staff and team members were also in attendance during their visit.

In the footage released by the local news channel OTV, the captain was also accompanied by his wife, while Tilak Varma and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak were also among those who sought blessings at the Srimandir. Notably, it looked like the team management had already intimated the administration about their visit to avoid chaos and ensure a smooth visit, with heavy security deployed at the temple.

The Puri district SP and Collector, alongside Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials, were also present with the aforementioned names to pay their respects.

All eyes on captain Suryakumar Yadav in Cuttack

With the T20 World Cup inching closer with every passing day, the focus will completely shift from the Tests and ODIs to the shortest format, and one of India's most crucial cogs in the competition will be SKY, who has been nothing short of magnificent in his T20I career, accumulating 2754 runs in 89 innings, including 4 centuries and striking at 164.41.

However, the calendar year 2025 has not gone according to plan for the 2024 T20 World Cup winner. The 35-year-old has not scored a fifty in the last 21 matches, where he batted 18 times. His best score since his last fifty against Bangladesh in October 2024, where he got 75(35), came against Pakistan during the Asia Cup, when he finished the match with 47*(37).

With 10 T20Is left ahead of the big home T20 mega-event, he would ideally like to be the key contributor to the team's success, which would also provide some confidence to the dressing room.

The first T20I in Cuttack is set to begin at 7 pm (IST), where a star-studded SA team will be in action after the likes of David Miller, Tristan Stubbs, and Donovan Ferreira, among others, have re-joined the squad.