King Charles III felt Mohammed Siraj’s dismissal was an “unfortunate one” and couldn’t help but ask Shubman Gill about it when he welcomed India’s men’s and women’s cricket teams in the lawns of Clarence House here on Tuesday.
The 76-year-old British Monarch spent a long time discussing cricket with Indian cricketers, a meeting that men’s team skipper Gill hailed as “amazing” during his chat with the media.
Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami and Deputy High Commissioner Sujit Ghosh, along with Congress Rajya Sabha MP and BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla and secretary Devajit Saikia, were also present.
“It was amazing. I think he (King Charles) is very kind and generous… we had some excellent conversations,” said Gill.
On Monday, India lost a tantalisingly close Test by 22 runs with final hitter Mohammed Siraj getting out off England off-spinner Shoaib Bashir’s delivery. The ball trickled back to clip the bails after Siraj executed a defensive stroke.
“He did tell us that the way our last batsman got out was quite unfortunate, the ball rolling onto the stumps. And he was asking us, ‘How did you feel after that?’ And we told him it was an unfortunate match for us… but hopefully, we’ll have better luck in both the next games,” the young Indian skipper said.
Gill commented on the tremendous support his team usually receives from the Indian diaspora whenever they play in the United Kingdom.
He added, “I think everywhere we go, we are fortunate that we always get good support, and it’s been no different here. Although I think the first couple of days, there were more England supporters at the Lord’s, but I think in the last three days we got some excellent support for us.” The quality of cricket in the first three Tests has raised the interest level, feels Shubman Gill.
“I think the way both teams played, they showed a lot of passion, and we played with a lot of pride. We gave it our all mentally and physically. And at the end of the day, when you play a Test match that goes on for five days into the last session, and you lose by 20 (22) runs, the winner would be cricket.”
Indian women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur also expressed her squad’s excitement at getting an audience with the King. “It was a nice experience. We have visited England many times, but this was the first opportunity to meet the King. He was very friendly and asked us about how our travel here was,” said Kaur.
“It’s been a very humbling experience, coming here to the Royal House and meeting the King. It was the first time. We came from Southampton, but it was worth it. And the girls were excited about the visit, and we are pleased that we are here,” said women’s team Head Coach Amol Muzumdar.
The special cricket tournament was presented by the British Asian Trust, a charity formed by King Charles III to alleviate poverty, inequality and injustice in South Asia.
“The British Asian Trust was started through a cricket match between India and Pakistan in 2007, which His Majesty, then as Prince of Wales, had helped organise, and so it’s very poignant to be here today at Clarence House,” said Hitan Mehta, executive director of the Trust.
“We have been very grateful for His Majesty’s continued support for our work in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It’s been great to see how it’s grown from a tiny organisation to helping 13 million people across South Asia,” he said.
The men’s squad headed for Manchester ahead of their fourth Test against England at the Old Trafford stadium on July 23. The women’s squad arrived in Southampton for their One-Day International encounter with England on Wednesday after a triumphant T20I series win 3-2 against England.
