The highly-anticipated India's premier T20 tournament is less than a day away from getting underway. Cricketers assembled at their respective camps in the build-up to the IPL 2024, which will have scores of interesting moments in store for the fans.

Meanwhile, Protea spinner Keshav Maharaj fulfilled his wish by visiting Ayodhya Ram Mandir before joining the IPL franchise Lucknow Super Giants' camp. The South African international took to his social media handle and shared a picture of himself with Ram Lalla inside the temple's sanctum sanctorum.

Lucknow Super Giants & Keshav Maharaj at Ram Mandir in Ayodhya

The Protea cricketer posted the picture along with the caption that reads, "Jai Shree Raam Blessings to everyone". The picture of the same started doing the rounds on social media.

Maharaj was accompanied by LSG star spinner Ravi Bishnoi, the team's newly-appointed head coach Justin Langer, and fielding coach - former South Africa cricketer - Jonty Rhodes as they also sought spiritual intervention from Ram Lalla ahead of the new IPL season. The Lucknow-based franchise posted all the pictures on their official X handle.

The South African spinner loves coming to India as he gets to visit some of the temples in the country. Last year, when South African players came to India to play in the ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023, Maharaj visited the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala to seek blessings.

Was Keshav Maharaj Bought During IPL 2024 Auction?

Keshav Maharaj who has never played IPL before registered his name at the IPL 2024 auction for his base price of INR 50 lakh. Unfortunately, he failed to attract the bidders despite performing pretty well in the ICC Men's ODI World Cup 2023.

Even though he went unsold at the auction, he is set to undergo training with the LSG squad for the upcoming season. For the record, the Protea spinner is part of Lucknow's sister-franchise Durban’s Super Giants (DSG) in the SA20 league.

Although he is not part of the LSG squad, he can sneak in if any of the overseas players from the team get ruled out of the tournament. The left-arm off-spinner has taken 24 wickets in 27 T20I appearances for South Africa at an economy of 7.38.