NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Sunday showcased his sporting side at a friendly cricket match between Parliamentarians, where he supporters were delighted to his skills with the bat.
The match, held at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi, saw the Lok Sabha Speaker XI, led by Anurag Thakur, take on the Rajya Sabha Chairman XI, captained by Kiren Rijiju.
Organised as part of the TB Mukt Bharat campaign, the 20-over match brought together Members of Parliament from across political lines. Speaker Birla, invited as the Chief Guest, not only attended but also took to the field to bat, displaying agility and poise.

The match began at 9.00am on December 15, amid an otherwise intense winter session of Parliament, which has seen frequent disruptions since its commencement on November 25.
Lok Sabha Speaker XI
Anurag Singh Thakur (C), Gurmeet Singh Hire, Manoj Tiwari, Deepender Singh Hooda, K. Ram Mohan Naidu, Tejasvi Surya, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Chandrashekhar Ravan, Lavu Sri Krishna, Dushyant Singh, Arun Govil, Murlidhar Mohol, Rajesh Verma, Omprakash Raje Nimbalkar, Devesh Shakya, Pushpendra Saroj, Sagar Ishwar Khandare, Nishikant Dubey, Appala Naidu Kalisetti.
Rajya Sabha Chairman XI
Kiren Rijiju (C), Kamlesh Paswan, Mohammed Azharuddin, Imran Pratapgarhi, Raghav Chadha, Derek O’Brien, Neeraj Dangi, C.M. Ramesh, Saumitra Khan, K. Sudhakar, Anil Kumar Yadav, Vijay Kumar Dubey, Surendra Singh Nagar, Neeraj Shekhar, Ashok Mittal, Amarpal Maurya, Durai Vaiko, Tokhan Sahu, Ravi Kishan.
On the sidelines of the match, Union minister Kiren Rijiju also slammed the INDIA bloc’s criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech and urged the MPs to follow the “11 mantras” that the Prime Minister shared.
“PM of India is not for one party. PM is for the country and PM’s vision is for the country. So, I urge all the Opposition MPs to understand the spirit of PM’s message and join the campaign and 11 mantras which PM has stated on the Floor of the House is to make India a fully developed nation by 2047,” he said.
In his speech on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined 11 resolutions aimed at shaping India’s future and strengthening its constitutional values. These included: