India captain Virat Kohli and his better half Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma have come in to lend a helping hand in the fight against Covid-19 in the country. The couple who aims to raise Rs 7 crore has made a donation of Rs 2 crore in the fundraiser #InThisTogether and have collected an additional Rs 1.6 in the last 24 hours.
Kohli in a social media post wrote that it’s an overwhelming response. “3.6 crores in less than 24 hours! Overwhelmed with the response. Let’s keep fighting to meet our target and help the country. Thank you.”
Anushka had earlier shared a video saying that she and Kohli pledged their support to Covid-19 relief work. “As our country battles the second wave of Covid-19, and our healthcare systems are facing extreme challenges, it breaks my heart to see our people suffering. So, Virat and I have initiated a campaign #InThisTogether, with Ketto, to raise funds for Covid-19 relief,” she said.
Earlier, the IPL 2021 was also suspended with immediate effect for an indefinite time after there was a rise in the COVID-19 within the franchise teams.
SRH’s Wriddhiman Saha, DC’s Amit Mishra, KKR’s Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrior and CSK’s bowling coach L Balaji had tested positive. The Virat Kohl-led RCB had a decent run so far in this edition after they won five of the seven matches that they played and were placed at the third spot before the tournament was put to a halt.
The country has seen a sudden rise in positive cases in the past few weeks while a number of players have come in support to help India in these tough times.
Australia and KKR bowler Pat Cummins donated $50,000 to purchase oxygen supplies for hospitals in India while Shikhar Dhawan donated ₹20 lakh to an NGO for buying oxygen cylinders and concentrators. Former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar gave Rs 1 Cr to the same organisation.
The decision of resumption of IPL 2021 is yet to be taken by the BCCI.