Gujarat: Modi, Albanese watch India-Australia Test match

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese on Thursday watched the fourth Test between India and Australia at the Narendra Modi stadium here for half an hour and went around the imposing sports arena.

Modi and Albanese handed over Test caps to their respective team captains Rohit Sharma and Steve Smith at the start of the game, the fourth of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

The two prime ministers watched the match from the President's Box of the stadium.

Thousands of spectators applauded as the two dignitaries took a round of the playing turf on a golf cart.

Modi and Albanese met players from both sides and stood with them as the national anthems of India and Australia were sung.

The crowd had started assembling from different parts of the state since early morning, most of them carrying the tricolour and sporting face paint.

Vendors selling India t-shirts and other items for match day soon ran out of stock.

“We came here to watch PM Modi. He is our lucky charm and his presence will turn the tide in the favour of India in this Test match. Modi hai to mumkin hai,'' a fan said.

''My entire family are fans of cricket. We never miss a match in any stadium in Gujarat. Seeing so many people, I am sure the Indian team will be motivated,'' said Rakesh Desai, who had travelled with his kin all the way from Surat for the match.

Sources said the ruling BJP had arranged a large number of passes for the match and had distributed it to people. Several of them left after spending some time at the stadium.

Both Albanese and Modi reached Ahmedabad on Wednesday.

India lead the four match series 2-1. Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bat in the series-deciding fourth Test.

A framed portrait of PM Modi presented to him by the secretary of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Jay Shah in the stadium drew sharp criticism, with the Congress terming it as yet another case of ''self obsession.'' ''Narendra Modi's friend's son presenting Narendra Modi's photo to Narendra Modi at Narendra Modi Stadium,'' Congress said in a tweet.

Modi and Albanese did a lap of honour across the ground to mark the occasion of 75 years of friendship between India and Australia.

The two leaders also inaugurated the newly-designed Hall of Fame room, and the captains of the two teams -- Rohit Sharma and Steve Smith -- walked into the field with their respective prime ministers and introduced them to the other players.

The renaming of the refurbished Sardar Patel cricket stadium in Ahmedabad after Modi in 2021 had drawn sharp criticism from Congress, which called it an insult to India’s first home minister Sardar Patel with whose name it was associated.

In its defence, the BJP had said that only the Motera stadium was renamed while the larger complex of which it is a part continues to be named after Patel.

“The self-obsession continues unabated,” Ramesh tweeted. “Doing a lap of honour in a stadium you named after yourself in your own lifetime--- height of self-obsession,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted.

“A lap of honour around the stadium he got named after himself in his own lifetime is a good occasion for heralding a quarter century of pointed questions with HAHK( Hum Adanike Hain Kaun),” Ramesh tweeted.

Jay Shah presented a framed artwork to Modi, celebrating 75 years of friendship with Australia through cricket, BCCI said.

BCCI president Roger Binny presented a framed artwork representing 75 years of friendship through cricket to Albanese, it added.