South African spinner Keshav Maharaj offers prayers at Ayodhya's Ram Mandir ahead of IPL 2024

Keshav Maharaj (Pic: AFP)

Lucknow Super Giants spinner Keshav Maharaj reached the holy city of Ayodhya and offered prayers at Ram Janmabhoomi Temple here on Thursday.

The South African player posted a photo on social media with folded hands from inside the temple with the caption, "Jai Shree Raam [?] Blessings to everyone ."

Along with Maharaj, head coach Justin Langer, fielding coach Jonty Rhodes, and Ravi Bishnoi also visited the Ayodhya Temple.

During their visit, the Lucknow Super Giants players and coaching staff had the privilege of participating in darshan and paying their respects at various sacred sites in Ayodhya, immersing themselves in the rich spiritual heritage and traditions of the city.

Earlier, following the Ayodhya Ram Mandir's Pran Pratishtha ceremony on January 22, the seasoned South African cricketer shared a special message for his Indian fans on social media. He also mentioned his wish to offer prayers at the temple.

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The Super Giants will kick off their IPL 2024 campaign against the Rajasthan Royals on Sunday at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. Last year KL Rahul led LSG only in the first half of the season as he was ruled out of the tournament midway due to injury. Later on, Krunal Pandya captained the team with LSG showing a stunning performance by reaching the playoffs and finishing third in the points table.

Ahead of the campaign, Langer said that the LSG skipper KL Rahul has worked very hard to make his return in the T20 tournament. Langer added that it will be great to have KL Rahul in the squad.

"Everyone's looking forward to seeing him. We know he has worked very hard to tick off all his return-to-play protocols. He's worked very hard. He's been practicing, he's been hitting lots of balls. He's hopefully ready to go. It's going to be nice to have the captain with us," Langer said in a virtual press conference.

LSG squad for IPL 2024: KL Rahul (c), Quinton de Kock, Nicholas Pooran, Ayush Badoni, Kyle Mayers, Marcus Stoinis, Deepak Hooda, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Krunal Pandya, Yudhvir Singh, Prerak Mankad, Yash Thakur, Amit Mishra, Shamar Joseph (replacement for Mark Wood), Mayank Yadav, Mohsin Khan, K. Gowtham, Shivam Mavi, Arshin Kulkarni, M. Siddharth, Ashton Turner, David Willey, Mohd. Arshad Khan.

(With agency inputs)