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Dalai Lama to grace IPL match in Dharamshala

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Pakistan Cricket team practise before a warm-up match with India at Dharamshala Cricket Stadium in March 2005. The Dalai Lama will grace the second Indian Premier League (IPL) match in Dharamshala between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings on 18 April 2010.File photo/Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal/India

The Dalai Lama will grace one of the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches in Dharamshala in April.

“The Dalai Lama has accepted the invitation of Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association to attend the opening ceremony of an IPL match on 18 April,” Tenzin Taklha, secretary of the Dalai Lama told Press Trust of India.

The Dalai Lama will witness the match between King’s XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings at the Dharamshala Cricket Stadium.

Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association will host two IPL matches — between Kings XI Punjab and Deccan Chargers, and between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings — scheduled to be held on 16 and 18 April respectively.

The first match on 16 April between King’s XI Punjab and Deccan Chargers will be day and night, while the second match will be played during the day. There are eight teams consisting of players from different countries. The final will be played in Mumbai on 25 April.

Since the inception of the IPL in 2008, it will be first time that IPL matches are played in Dharamshala. Thousands of cricket fans from neighbouring states are expected to come to watch the matches.

The Dalai Lama had witnessed a local match at the stadium in December 2008.

In March 2005, the Dalai Lama was forced to withdraw from attending a warm-up match between India and Pakistan after the Pakistanis threatened to pull out if the Dalai Lama attended, saying they enjoy good relations with China. The Dalai Lama’s office later issued a statement that said “the general thinking of His Holiness the Dalai Lama is not to cause any inconvenience to any party”.

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