Rohit Sharma prays for the flood-affected people and animals in Kerala

Star Indian batsman Rohit Sharma came out in support of the people of Kerala who have seen endless ordeal because of severe floods. Over 320 people have reportedly died while lakhs have been forced to relocate to relief camps over the last week or so because of the extreme conditions in the southern state.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached Kerala on Friday (August 17) evening after attending the funeral of late former Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee to take stock of the flood situation, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh already took an aerial view. The PM also announced an immediate financial assistance of Rs 500 crore to the rain-hit state for relief. The state also has suffered massive devastation in terms of property.

The nation is standing beside you

Sharma took to Twitter early on Saturday (August 18) to express his solidarity with Kerala, saying: “ Praying for the people and the animals of Kerala hope Kerala stands tall and battles through this. The nation is standing beside you.”

The 31-year-old dashing batsman has been overlooked for India’s ongoing Test series against England even after he had a decent outing in the limited-overs series. He hit a couple of hundreds in both the T20I and ODI series but failed to make the cut in the longest format.

Praying for the people and the animals of Kerala 🙏 hope Kerala stands tall and battles through this. The nation is standing beside you

— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) August 18, 2018

Sharma recently said he is ready to open for India in Tests if he is offered so. The Mumbai batsman, who has three double centuries in the 50-over format, had started his Test career with a bang in 2013. He hit two consecutive hundreds against the West Indies to begin with but could not fulfil the promise he had shown in that format. Currently, he has 1,479 Test runs in 25 matches at an average of below 40 with three hundreds.

The right-hander was even preferred ahead of vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane in the away Test series against South Africa earlier this year but he failed to deliver. The move had earned the Indian team management a lot of criticism. Rohit earlier ignored for India’s one-off Test against Afghanistan at home in June.

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