Gautam Gambhir to offer prayers at Lord Balaji Temple in Andhra’s Tirumala today

Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir will visit Lord Balaji temple in Andhra Pradesh's Tirumala on Thursday

Tirupati: Former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir will visit Lord Balaji temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirumala on Thursday. Gambhir reached Tirumala in the wee hours of Thursday and will offer prayers at the temple later in the day.

The 41-year-old former cricket player is currently the mentor of the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Lucknow Super Giants.

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In the 2023 season of the IPL, Gambhir was involved in a verbal spat with Virat Kohli, and following this, both players were fined by the IPL authority.

Gambhir was one of the first additions to the newly-founded LSG franchise in 2022. He played a crucial role during the 2022 mega auctions while making a strong squad with KL Rahul at the centre.

The Lucknow-based franchise has performed well since its inception in the T20 league and secured a playoff spot in their first two seasons in 2022 and 2023, but has failed to reach the final so far.

Gambhir played his last match for India against England in a test match in 2016, and following that, he retired from international cricket. In the ODI format, Gambhir played 147 matches and scored 5238 runs.

Whereas, in the Test, he appeared in 28 games for India and scored 4154 runs with an average of 41.96. In the T20 format He played 37 games and scored 932 runs with a strike rate of 119.03. Gambhir started his IPL career with the Delhi Capitals but found success with the Kolkata-based franchise and won two titles with them.