Players from Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders came together on Wednesday to honour the Indian Army’s recent retaliatory strike, ‘Operation Sindoor,’ ahead of their Indian Premier League match. Players and fans united in singing the national anthem before the match at a packed stadium. Cricketers from both teams stood outside the boundary rope in a show of respect and solidarity with the armed forces and the public.
Operation Sindoor, launched by the Indian Armed Forces in the early hours of Wednesday, was a retaliatory strike following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. The operation targeted terror launchpads across Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK). A total of 24 strikes were carried out across nine locations, including the headquarters of the terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), known as Markaz Subhan Allah, in Pakistan's Bahawalpur.
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KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and chose to bat first in a game crucial to his side’s playoff hopes. CSK, already out of playoff contention, made several changes to their lineup.
Playing XIs:
Kolkata Knight Riders: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Ramandeep Singh, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy
Chennai Super Kings: Ayush Mhatre, Urvil Patel, Devon Conway, Ravindra Jadeja, Dewald Brevis, MS Dhoni (wk/c), Ravichandran Ashwin, Anshul Kamboj, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Matheesha Pathirana
