Ravi Shastri's Picture With 'Heartbeat Of Indian Cricket Team' Wins Internet

Former Indian men’s cricket team head coach Ravi Shastri took to X (formerly Twitter) to post a picture of him with Team India’s throwdown specialist Raghuvendra Diwedi, popularly known as “Raghu Bhaiya.” The 62-year-old Shastri shared a picture with a heartfelt caption that read, “Always good to see the Man Friday and the heartbeat of the Indian Cricket team—Raghu,” and it is now going viral on the internet.

Raghu, who joined the Indian men’s cricket team as a training assistant in 2011, specialises in delivering throwdowns at high speeds. His contribution to the Indian team’s success has been praised by former Indian captain Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni as well on multiple occasions in the past.

While Kohli praised Raghu for his consistency and invaluable assistance during practice sessions, Dhoni referred to him as the “overseas pace specialist.”

India fielding first in Kanpur

In the ongoing Kanpur Test, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma opted to field first after winning toss. It was the first time in nine years that an Indian team is bowling first in a red-ball match played on Indian soil after winning the toss. Rohit’s decision to field first also made him only the second Indian captain after MAK Pataudi to field first after winning the toss at Green Park Stadium in Kanpur.

During the India-England Test match played in 1964, Pataudi also invited the English team to bat first.

India is playing with the same team in the Kanpur Test that won the first Test in Chennai by 280 runs. It was expected that local boy Kuldeep Yadav would get a chance to play at his home ground in place of Akash Deep, but Indian team management decided to continue with the same team, and Bengal pacer Akash justified his selection by getting rid of two Bangladeshi batters for 14 runs in six overs of the first session.

He first got rid of Zakir Hasan, who was caught for a 24-ball duck by Yashasvi Jasiwal, and then removed Shadman Islam on the first ball of the 13th over. The left-handed batter was trapped in front of the wickets by Akash, who challenged the decision after he was declared not out by the on-field umpire.