Indian men’s and women’s cricket teams met King Charles III at St. James’s Palace in London on Tuesday, where the monarch displayed remarkable knowledge about the players’ personal lives and recent matches. The meeting was attended by team captains Shubman Gill and Harmanpreet Kaur, along with team members, coaching staff, and BCCI officials.BCCI Vice President Rajeev Shukla expressed his delight at the historic meeting, noting King Charles’s detailed knowledge about the players and their personal lives.“It was a very historic occasion that both our men’s and women’s teams were invited today by King Charles and met them very well in the Palace. Players are very happy because he asked all personal details of each player. He asked Saikia ji and me about whether Arun Jaitley is my friend, what happened to him, and when I told him that he had died, he asked me to pay condolences to his family. He also asked about Akash Deep’s sister’s illness,” Shukla said.Shukla further emphasised the King’s humility and knowledge of cricket, particularly regarding the third Test at Lord’s.“He had found out so many details. He sounded like a gentleman, and it did not seem we were talking to the King of England. There is a lot of humility in him and team is very happy to meet him,” Shukla added.The BCCI Vice President also addressed the performance of young captain Shubman Gill and the absence of veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli.“Even he noticed this fact. If we had another regular batter on the field, then we could have won easily. Our team has proven that our experiment is well done, as part of which we have sent a new team because we are looking forward to the future. The team has proven itself to be a fighter unit. We almost won here. We did well at Leeds. Our team is competing with England equally and will win the series as two matches are since left,” he explained.During the meeting, Shukla gifted one of his books, titled ‘Scars of 1947: Real Partition Stories’ to the King. The book is a collection of firsthand accounts from the survivors of the partition in 1947.During the meeting, King Charles discussed the final moments of the third Test with Gill, specifically mentioning Mohammed Siraj’s unfortunate dismissal.Gill shared his experience of the meeting with reporters: “It was amazing. I think he was very kind and generous to be able to call us here, and it was a pleasure meeting the king, and we had some really good conversations.”The Indian captain elaborated on his conversation with the King: “Yes, he did tell us that the way our last batsman got out was quite unfortunate. The ball was rolling on the stumps, and he was just asking us how we felt after that, and we told him it was an unfortunate match for us. It could have gone either way, but hopefully we will have better luck in the next games.”
Indian cricket team interacts with Hollywood actor Idris Elba. (Reuters)
The Indian teams also met British actor Idris Elba before their royal encounter. Elba expressed his modest connection to cricket: “I’d say I’m a fan, but I don’t follow cricket as well as I should. I was just a little bowler, that’s all.”Women’s team captain Harmanpreet Kaur shared her experience of meeting the King: “Uh, it was a very nice experience. Uh, we came to England so many times, but this was our first time when we met him, and he was very friendly. He asked us, like, how the travel was and all, and, um, it was really nice to meet him.”She added: “Definitely, we have been playing good cricket, and I think with that we are getting a lot of opportunity to express ourselves, so really happy the way things are moving on.”Women’s team head coach Amol Muzumdar expressed his gratitude for the opportunity: “It has been a very humbling experience coming here to the royal house and meeting the king. It’s been the first time, so we came all the way from Southampton, but it was really worth it, and the girls were really excited about this visit, and we are pleased that we are here.”The men’s team is currently in England for a five-match Test series, while the women’s team recently secured a historic 3-2 T20I series victory over England and is preparing for an upcoming three-match ODI series starting in Southampton.King Charles also interacted with other team members including vice-captain Rishabh Pant, Jasprit Bumrah, Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, and head coach Gautam Gambhir. He also met with uncapped players Prasidh Krishna, Karun Nair, and Arshdeep Singh.
