Joe Root Presents Memorabilia to The Great Dalai Lama

Rajasthan Royals will take on Punjab Kings in a crucial IPL game on Friday. Sanju Samson and Co need to win their last league game against Punjab in order to remain in the race for the playoffs. The high-stakes match will be played at the picturesque HPCA stadium in Dharamshala. This has increased the hype around the fixture. Now a heartwarming picture from the Rajasthan Royals camp is going viral in the run-up to the match.

IPL 2023: Punjab Kings vs Rajasthan Royals – LIVE

Royals’ batter and former England skipper Joe Root has tweeted a lovely picture alongside Dalai Lama. The picture is from Royals’ recent meet-and-greet with the Tibetan spiritual leader who resides in Dharamshala. The picture shows Root presenting a cricket memorabilia to the popular spiritual leader. Root’s tweet has gained traction on Twitter with over 500,000 views on the microblogging site.

Twitter users have praised Root for his gesture. One user wrote, “Thank you so much Joe Root for showing this gratitude."

Another user tweeted, “You are the greatest player of all time in my opinion."

“Oh, what a beautiful surprise!" read one tweet.

Both Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings have 12 points after 13 games and can get to a maximum of 14 points. However, Royals’ have a superior net run rate (NRR), which gives them a tremendous advantage in their clash against Punjab Kings.

Teams like Rajasthan, Punjab and Mumbai Indians are aiming to qualify for the playoffs by occupying fourth place on the points table.

But Sanju Samson and Co have the best chance of taking that fourth slot if they can defeat Punjab on Friday and Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians both lose their last league game.

Royals were steamrolled by Royal Challengers Bangalore in their previous match. The 2008 champions will have to get over that humiliating 112 runs-loss if they are to prevail against Punjab. In that match, the Royals had lost five wickets for 25 runs in the powerplay. In fact, only Shimron Hetmyer and Joe Root had managed to score in double-digit figures. The likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Jos Buttler will have to step up against Punjab if Rajasthan are to salvage their campaign.