Rishi Sunak has been spotted speaking to England’s T20 cricket captain Jos Buttler ahead of the team’s match against India.
The former Prime Minister is an avid cricket fan and appeared to be in his element rubbing shoulders with cricketing stars from India and England.
He could be seen chatting to Buttler and Indian cricket star Suryakumar Yadav ahead of the rival’s clash in the 5th T20 International at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai today.
Sunak was also accompanied by the vice president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Rajeev Shukla and was present when Buttler and Yadav were given commemorative model cricket stadiums and bouquets of flowers.
During the match Sunak was spotted in the stands watching the game with his father-in-law Narayan Murthy.
The billionaire businessman made his fortunes as one of the co-founders of Infosys – an Indian multinational technology company.
Yesterday, Sunak joined his father-in-law at the Jaipur Literature Festival where he reportedly greeted the crowds by saying ‘Namaste’ with folded hands.
Before heading to the game, Sunak visited the Parsee Gymkhana in Mumbai where he played tennis ball cricket.
Rishi Sunak was seen chatting to England’s T20 cricket captain Jos Buttler and Indian cricket star Suryakumar Yadav
The former Prime Minister is an avid cricket fan and appeared to be in his element rubbing shoulders with cricketing stars from India and England.
Sunak was present when Buttler and Yadav were given commemorative model cricket stadiums and bouquets of flowers
Sunak was also accompanied by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Vice President Rajeev Shukla (right)
Sunak shared a snap on X, formerly Twitter, of himself holding the bat in front of the wicket surrounded by locals.
He captioned the photo, ‘No trip to Mumbai would be complete without a game of tennis ball cricket.’
Sunak was also filmed signing shirts during his visit to Parsee Gymkhana.
During last year’s general election campaign Sunak enjoyed a game of cricket during a stop in Warwickshire.
In February last year, PM used his knowledge of Cricket to encourage his beleaguered Tory MPs that the upcoming general election was not lost yet.
The then-PM gathered around 100 of his colleagues for a luxury meal at Leicester Square in which he claimed the Conservatives could emulate the surprise success of England in their first test against India and pull off a miraculous victory.
This victory did not come into fruition however and the party went on to suffer its worst electoral defeat in its history.
Returning to today’s match, First Post reported that Buttler won the toss in the T20I match and chose to bowl first.
Abhishek Sharma and Tilak Varma gave India a strong start, with the team scoring 95 runs in the powerplay, their highest ever in the first six overs of a T20I match.
