Ram Mandir Pran Prathistha: Why Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma missed historic event in Ayodhya on January 22

Add as a preferred source on Google

Ram Mandir Pran Prathistha: Cricket fans waited with a lot of excitement to see Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni - two of the biggest sporting heroes in the country - to grace the historic event in Ayodhya but the two former captains failed to arrive in Ayodhya.

Amidst the sea of Sadhus, Sants, politicians and Bollywood stars, the sporting fraternity of India caught eyeballs as they made their way into Ayodhya to witness the 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony of Ram Lalla on Monday, January 2022.

Sachin Tendulkar, Ravindra Jadeja, Venkatesh Prasad, Mithali Raj and Anil Kumble were the key cricketing icons present in the Ram Mandir premises as the 'Pran Pratishtha' ceremony was led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the the Ram Lalla idol was unveiled.

Why Virat Kohli miss the Ram Mandir Pran Prathistha ceremony in Ayodhya?

There were rumours of Virat Kohli's convoy being spotted in Ayodhya, but he could not make it to the emotional event which symbolised the homecoming of Ram Lalla after 500 years.

Just when the Ram bhakts worldwide were drowned in celebrations, the BCCI in an official release revealed that Virat Kohli would be missing out on the first two Test matches against England due to "personal reasons". The board also requested fans and media houses to refrain from making any guesses.

However, a Virat Kohli lookalike was spotted in Ayodhya on Monday and mobbed by the locals for pictures. The video has gone viral.

Why MS Dhoni missed Ram Mandir Pran Prathistha ceremony in Ayodhya?

Like Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni was also invited for the Ram temple consecration ceremony. The former India captain also failed to make it to the event.

A video of MS Dhoni playing tennis in Ranchi went viral. Many have claimed that the video is from Sunday, January 21 - a day before the Ram Mandir Pran Prathistha ceremony.

Dhoni is not an active cricketer and turns up to play only in the IPL since his retirement in 2020. The 42-year-old is gearing up for his last IPL season with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and has already started the preparations. Reason of his absence is not known yet.

Why Rohit Sharma missed Ram Mandir Pran Prathistha ceremony in Ayodhya?

India captain Rohit Sharma also missed the Ram Mandir Pran Prathistha ceremony. The 36-year-old is on national duty and gearing up for the first Test which starts in Hyderabad from January 25.

However, Ravindra Jadeja, who is also part of the squad, was spotted at the event alongside his wife and BJP MLA Rivaba Jadeja. The three star cricketers could not be in Ayodhya on Monday, but would hopefully be soon in the Uttar Pradesh city to seek blessings from Ram Lalla.