Donald Trump mentions 'great cricketers' Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli in 'Namaste Trump' event

United States of America President Donald Trump has finally arrived in India amidst an atmosphere of festivities. He was welcomed at the Ahmedabad airport by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From there, Modi and Trump traveled to Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram, where Trump along with wife and first lady Melania Trump tried their hands at spinning the charkha and signed the visitor’s book.

From there the caravan moved towards the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, which is the biggest cricket stadium in the world with a seating capacity of over 1.10 lakh spectators. The stadium was filled with people waiting for the ‘Namaste Trump’ event to begin. The stadium also had the top brass of Indian cricket board (BCCI) present as well, with President Sourav Ganguly and Secretary Jay Shah seated there as well.

Donald Trump names Tendulkar and Kohli in his speech

Donald Trump took center stage amongst deafening cheers from the stadium. He started by thanking India for the grand welcome. In his speech, he mentioned Bollywood and hit movie Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (DDLJ) and also gave special mention to cricketing heroes Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.

“The world knows of Bollywood and their films like DDLJ. All over the planet people take great joy in watching Bollywood films, bhangra, and classic films like DDLJ and Sholay. You cheer on great cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli,” Trump was quoted as saying during the event by India Today.

US President Donald Trump: All over the planet people take great joy in watching Bollywood films, bhangra, and classic films like DDLJ and Sholay. You cheer on great cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli pic.twitter.com/CHvedzlXQh

— ANI (@ANI) February 24, 2020

The event was kicked off with Narendra Modi welcoming Trump and his wife Melania to India and thanking them for visiting the Sabarmati Ashram. He also recalled his ‘Howdy Modi’ event in Texas five months ago and talked a lot about the Indo-US friendship.

“India-US relations are no longer just another partnership. It is a far greater and closer relationship. One is ‘land of the free’ the other believes the world is one family. One feels proud of ‘Statue of Liberty’ the other feels proud of ‘Statue of Unity’,” PM Modi said.

PM Modi also thanked Trump after he ended his speech and left the event waving to the public and fans cheering for them.