Lok Sabha Speaker XI won by 73 runs in TB Free India Friendship Cricket Match

Former Union Minister and Member of Parliament from Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, took part in a unique initiative to spread awareness about TB disease. In a friendly cricket match named TB Free India Awareness Cricket Match, the Speaker XI team was captained by Anurag Thakur while Union Minister Kiren Rijiju captained Chairman XI. Anurag Thakur scored an unbeaten 111 runs while playing a captaincy innings, so the Speaker XI team defeated Chairman XI by 73 runs. Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla inaugurated the match by releasing a tricolour balloon in the air, while in the closing ceremony of the match, Union Minister Shri Piyush Goyal distributed prizes to the players and encouraged them. In this match, all the MPs came to the field wearing a special kind of jersey, which read ‘TV Harege aur Bharat Jitega’.

In the match played at Major Dhyanchand Stadium in Delhi, Lok Sabha Speaker XI batted first. Captain Anurag Thakur completed his century in 59 balls and scored an unbeaten 111 runs facing a total of 65 balls. Anurag Thakur played many excellent shots in this match and sent the ball across the boundary line many times. Lok Sabha Speaker XI team set a huge target of 251 runs in front of Chairman XI team after losing 7 wickets in 20 overs. In response, Chairman XI team could score only 178 runs after losing 8 wickets, in which former cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin scored the highest 74 runs facing 42 balls. Anurag Thakur was awarded the Man of the Match for his brilliant performance. Best bowler Deepender Hooda, best fielder Nishikant Dubey, best batsman Mohammad Azharuddin, golden duck jointly by Ram Mohan Naidu and Imran Pratapgarhi, super six by K. Sudhakar, super catch by Manoj Tiwari, maximum boundary by Anurag Thakur, fighter of the match title was given to Chandrashekhar Azad.

Lok Sabha Speaker Shri Om Birla, who arrived to inaugurate this match, said, “The Parliament of India represents 140 crore people and expects that the society should benefit from the experience of the public representatives. We have to make India TB free by 2025 and in such a situation, this friendly match of MPs will work to spread awareness against TB eradication. I congratulate all the MPs participating in this match and the organizer of this program Anurag Singh Thakur ji that they have made a meaningful effort towards eradicating a disease like TB. If we all work with full determination to spread awareness against TB elimination in our respective areas, then we will definitely be successful in eradicating TB from India on time”

Shri Piyush Goyal said, “First of all, I would like to congratulate Anurag Thakur ji, the organizer of this wonderful and successful program, who won everyone's heart with his batting today and who brought so many MPs on one platform to spread awareness against TB. Anurag Thakur had given a message against TB by organizing a similar match in 2018 and after today's match, I am hopeful that his resolution will go across the country and such matches will be organized in many other cities as well. I am sure that such events will give more strength to the resolution of the Hon'ble Prime Minister to make India TB-free by 2025.

Shri Anurag Singh Thakur said, "Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target of making India TB-free by 2025. To spread awareness towards achieving this target, selected MPs from all parties of the Indian Parliament participated in this friendly cricket match named TB Free India Awareness Cricket Match. Awareness about TB should reach every corner of the country. We have united with team spirit, without any politics. Our endeavor is that such events continue to be held in the future and the state governments of various states should also come forward to spread awareness against TB through such events. The target of eradicating TB worldwide is 2031. If you look from 2015 till now, there has been a 38 percent decline in TB-related deaths in India. There is an approximately 18 percent decline in new cases. It has decreased by approximately 8 percent worldwide. The percentage is 100. This means India is doing better than the world, but the world's largest TB population is also in India. Now there is a treatment for it and the government also provides free medicines. It also gives Rs 1,000 for nutrition and it is also tracked.