India and South Africa's latest gesture will win your hearts

India and South Africa were recently involved in a long and gruelling tour which saw the players from both the teams contesting fiercely. While the Test series was won by the home side, the Men in Blue reigned supreme in the ODI and T20I tussle. But both the teams didn’t forget to contribute to the social cause as they donated to the water crisis in Cape Town. They donated R100,000 to the cause during the third and final T20 International at Newlands.

Cape Town was struggling with draught issues ever since India landed in the rainbow nation and even players were requested to use the limited water during their showers in the first Test at the venue. The situation had gotten even worse when both the teams returned to play the final fixture of the tour and hence they decided to contribute to the cause which was really a special gesture.

Both the teams donated the money in the form of a cheque to Gift of the Givers and they will use the same to drill boreholes as well as supply bottled water to organizations in desperate need.

We also wanted to create awareness

Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis cleared that they wanted to create awareness about the issue and had spoken to his counterpart Virat Kohli about the same. “Both teams had first-hand experience of the Water Crisis in Cape Town and, having chatted to Virat, we decided to get our teams to sign some jerseys which we auctioned off with the funds raised going to assist the Cape Town Water Crisis. We also wanted to create awareness and hope that other organizations and sports codes follow in our direction,” he was quoted as saying by the official website of Cricket South Africa (CSA).

Even the Indian skipper Kohli stressed the importance of getting involved in the campaign and was all praise of Cape Town city. “Cape Town is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and whenever we visit and play at Newlands, we are treated extremely well by the local people. By creating awareness of the drought, we are playing our part in highlighting the drought so people can see the seriousness of what’s taking place in the Mother City,” he said.

The Chairman of Gift of Givers, Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, thanked both the teams and assured that the donation will be put to good use. “Gift of the Givers appreciates the support from the South African and Indian cricket teams towards our Western Cape drought initiative. The generous contribution will assist us in essential borehole drilling in various areas which are virtually without water already,” Sooliman said.

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