India captain Rohit Sharma met the former WWE wrestler The Great Khali on Wednesday, on the eve of the World Cup 2023, at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Rohit Sharma was in Ahmedabad for the Captains’ Day event, that is the pre-tournament press conference of all 10 skippers, and also for the photoshoot of the captains with the ICC World Cup trophy. The Great Khali, too, was at the Narendra Modi Stadium as he’s an ambassador of one of the sponsors of the competition.
Rohit and other captains met The Great Khali at the Narendra Modi Stadium, which will host the tournament opener on Thursday between England and New Zealand.
Images of Rohit shaking The Great Khali’s hand went viral and Twitter came up with hilarious memes. Rohit also gifted Khali a t-shirt as a gesture of appreciation from the team.
Here are some funny memes on The Great Khali’s meeting with Rohit Sharma:
In the press conference, Rohit Sharma talked about the huge amount of pressure on his team – not only because India are the host nation, and the last three ODI World Cups were won by the host nation, but also because India haven’t won an ICC trophy for 10 years now.
“I know what’s at stake,” he said. “For us, it’s just about taking everything out now and just focusing on what we want to do as a team. Not worry about the expectations, because that’s always going to be there; not worry about who we’re playing; and not worry about what is happening elsewhere. It’s time now for us to be secluded a little bit, and then focus on what we want to do as a team.”
“Any big event that is supposed to happen in the county, people get really excited. And cricket being the biggest sport in India, I’m not surprised by the excitement that people have… it is spread across the entire country. Anywhere you go, the talk is about the World Cup.”
England and New Zealand will start the tournament. Both will be without one big name each: Ben Stokes is unlikely to play today due to a hip niggle while Kane Williamson also is unfit yet to do fielding for 50 overs. Tom Latham will lead New Zealand while Harry Brook is expected to play in place of Stokes.
