Write 'Bharat' instead of India on World Cup jersey: Sehwag

The ODI World Cup is exactly a month away and ahead of the mega-event, former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag urged the BCCI to have 'Bharat' written on the player jerseys instead of India.

The 50-over-World Cup is being hosted by India and will get underway on October 5. The former cricketer urged the Indian cricket board to make the change and tagged BCCI secretary Jay Shah in a post on X, former known as Twitter.

Tagging BCCI and Shah, Sehwag said: "I have always believed a name should be one which instills pride in us. We are Bhartiyas, India in a name given by the British and it has been long overdue to get out original name ‘Bharat’ back officially.

"I urge the @BCCI @JayShah to ensure that this World Cup our players have Bharat on our chest."

Furthermore, responding to BCCI’s post, announcing India’s squad for the World Cup, Sehwag stated" Team India nahin #TeamBharat. This World Cup as we cheer for Kohli, Rohit, Bumrah, Jaddu, may we have Bharat in our hearts and the players wear jersey which has ‘Bharat’ @JayShah."

The former India opener also gave examples of other cricketing nations who have changed their names.

"In the 1996 World Cup, Netherlands came to play in the World Cup in Bharat as Holland. In 2003, when we met them, they were The Netherlands and continue to be so.

"Burma have changed the name given by the British back to Myanmar. And many others have gone back to their original name," he added in another tweet.

Sehwag’s comments come in the wake of a controversy that erupted over the Rashtrapati Bhavan sending out invites for a G20 dinner on September night in the name of ‘President of Bharat’ instead of India.