Anurag Thakur's unbeaten innings of 111 runs help Lok Sabha Speaker XI win by 73 runs

In this friendly cricket match named TB Free India Awareness Cricket Match, Anurag Thakur captained the Speaker 11 team while Union Minister Kiren Rijiju led the Chairman 11. Anurag Thakur scored an unbeaten 111 runs playing a captaincy innings, owing to which the Speaker 11 team defeated the Chairman 11 by 73 runs, according to a press release.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla inaugurated the match by releasing the Tricolor balloons in the air, while in the closing ceremony of the match, Union Minister 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 - TB Harega Aur Bharat Jitega (TB will lose and India will win).

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 11 team after losing 7 wickets in 20 overs. In response, the Chairman 11 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 boundaries by Anurag Thakur, fighter of the match title was given to Chandrashekhar Azad.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who arrived to inaugurate this match congratulated the MPs for taking part in the awareness game.

"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 this friendly match of MPs will work to spread awareness about TB eradication. I congratulate all the MPs participating in this match and the organiser 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 about TB elimination in our respective areas, then we will definitely be successful in eradicating TB from India," Om Birla was quoted by a PIB as saying.

Piyush Goyal said, "First of all, I would like to congratulate Anurag Thakur ji, the organiser 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. Anurag ji had given a message against TB by organising 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 organised 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.

Anurag Singh Thakur said, "Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji has set a target of making India TB free by 2025. And 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. To promote this cause, we have united with team spirit, without any politics. Our endeavour is that such events should 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 see, from 2015 till now, there has been a 38 percent decline in TB-related deaths in India. There is an approximate 18 percent decline in new cases. It has decreased by approximately 8 percent worldwide. This means India is doing better than the world. Today, there is a treatment for it and the government also provides free medicines. It also gives Rs 1,000 for nutrition." (ANI)