Ahmedabad, March 9: Former Indian cricketer and politician Kirti Azad has questioned Team India's celebrations after winning the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. He criticised the Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav after he visited a Hanuman Temple inside the stadium to offer prayers with the trophy after the historic win.
Surya Visits Temple With Trophy
In a post on social media, Azad questioned why the World Cup trophy was taken to a religious place, claiming that Indian Cricket Team represents people from all religions. Soon after winning the T20 World Cup, several Indian players were seen celebrating the victory in different ways.
Suryakumar Yadav, Indian Head Coach Gautam Gambhir visited the Hanuman Temple and offered prayers while holding the trophy along with the ICC Chairman Jay Shah.
The videos of the temple visit was widely shared on social media and the fans were praising the captain for not celebrating with beer and alcohol, but visiting a temple instead.
'Trophy Belongs To Indians'
However, Kirti Azad criticised the move and said that the trophy belongs to all Indians, regardless of their religion. He pointed out that the national team includes players from different faiths and represents the entire country.
1983 World Cup Win
Azad also referred the 1983 World Cup winning team led by Kapil Dev and said that the squad had players from different religions and that the victory was celebrated as a national achievement.
'Why Not A Mosque...?'
He questioned that why the trophy not taken to a mosque, Church or Gurudwara? as the team represents India and not Suryakumar Yadav or Jay Shah's family.
He also said that Mohammed Siraj never paraded it at a mosque. Sanju also never took the trophy to a Church even as the latter had a major contribution in India's victory. He ended his post claiming that the win is not a religion's victory but every Indian's faith.
Kirti Azad's Social Media Post
SHAME ON TEAM INDIA! When we won the World Cup under Kapil Dev in 1983, we had Hindu Muslim Sikh and Christian in the team. We brought the trophy to our religious birth place our motherland India Bharat Hindustan Why The Hell Is The Indian Cricket Trophy is being Dragged. Why NOT a Mosque? Why NOT a Church? Why NOT a Gurudwara? This Team Represents INDIA — not Surya Kumar Yadav's or Jay Shah's Family ! Siraj never paraded it at a Mosque. Sanju never took it to a Church. latter had a major part to play and was man of the tournament. The Trophy Belongs to 1.4 BILLION Indians of EVERY Faith — NOT ONE RELIGION'S VICTORY LAP!
