India Vs South Africa: Fans Chant Hanuman Chalisa, Offer Prayers At Temples Ahead Of T20 World Cup Final

Team India are hoping to end an 11-year drought for an ICC trophy when they face South Africa in the final of the World T20 in Barbados. The Men in Blue last tasted success in the 2013 Champions Trophy where an MS Dhoni-led side defeated hosts England in the summit clash. Since then, India have featured in the final of five ICC tournaments under the captaincy of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma and lost on all occasions.

The entire nation could feel the pain when Rohit and his men succumbed to a six-wicket defeat to Australia in the ODI World Cup final last December.

The Indian side featuring in this T20 World Cup has performed dominantly throughout the campaign and lost no game on their way to the final. Fans hope the team will continue the momentum in the summit showdown and overcome South Africa to finally secure another ICC trophy.

In a cricket-crazy country like India, winning a major title is surely a matter of great pride. And to make that happen, people have been seen visiting temples, praying for India’s victory in the T20 World Cup final. Several videos are trending on social media where fans can be spotted worshipping deities for the sake of the Indian cricket team.

The students of the Patna Veda Vidyalaya in Bihar gathered together and chanted ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ while holding the pictures of the Indian cricketers. The video was shared on X (formerly Twitter) by the news agency IANS.

In another footage dropped by India Today, a few fans in Mumbai were seen performing sacrificial rites in front of the Indian flag. They had a picture of Kuldeep Yadav, who has been one of the top-performing bowlers for India in this T20 World Cup.

In the video, some school kids were captured cheering for Team India. Somewhere in the country, people gathered outside a temple with pictures of Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja and Suyrakumar Yadav and offered prayers to the god.

India are heading to the T20 World Cup final as the favourites, given their dominant performance in the earlier stages of the tournament. They have earlier clashed against South Africa six times in the history of the tournament and triumphed on four occasions.