India cricketers visit Ashok Vatika in Sri Lanka with their families

Kandy, Aug 16: After winding up the third and final Test match against Sri Lanka within three days, Team India got some extra time to spend with their families.

The cricketers utilised the break from cricket by visiting the historic places in Sri Lanka. Men In Blue will now be preparing for the upcoming limited-overs' series with Sri Lanka, starting Sunday (August 20).

Virat Kohli and his boys will play 5ODIs and one-off T20I with Upul Tharanga-led side. Some even spent time with their families as they explored the historically important sites in the island nation which have their association from Ramayana era.

Team India arrived Ashok Vatika is theplacewhere Ravana kept theSitacaptive. Ashok Vatika is a garden that is present in theSitaEliya inSri Lanka.

A post shared by Mohammed Shami (@mdshami.11) on Aug 11, 2017 at 12:08am PDT

The cricketers visited the Ashok Vatika, where demon king Ravana had kept Goddess Sita his captive. Shami and Yadav shared the images of the sites which hold importance to the Hindu pilgrims.

The cricketers were accompanied by their wives and children. Umesh even shared an image from a site carrying huge footprints of Lord Hanuman.

Ashok vatika big foot mark of Lord hanuman ji

A post shared by Umesh Yadav (@umeshyaadav) on Aug 9, 2017 at 11:43pm PDT

Hindu epic Ramayana illustrates that Sita was abducted by Ravana, the king of Lanka, in his Pushpaka Vimana and was brought to his kingdom. Hanuman, came to Lanka in search of Sita, took a giant size and set afire the 'golden city' of Lanka to teach Ravana a lesson.

Pacers Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, and wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha will be heading back to India as they were not included in the limited-overs' squad.

Thus, several sites in the island nation of Sri Lanka hold religious significance for the Hindus.

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