Ahead of their IPL 2020 opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Dubai International Stadium on Monday, Royal Challengers Bangalore's star cricketers Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers changed their jersey names and Twitter profile handle with the name of a COVID-19 warrior.
While Kohli changed his Twitter profile name to Simranjeet Singh, De Villiers changed it to Simranjeet Singh. And profile picture of both the players feature them wearing the RCB jersey with the name of COVID-19 warrrior.
"I salute Paritosh,who started 'Project Feeding from Far' with Pooja & fed meals to 2 needy during the lockdown. I wear his name on my back this season 2 appreciate their challenger spirit," De Villiers wrote on his social media post.
"Simranjeet Singh, a hearing-impaired but that did not stop him from helping others in the pandemic. He approached people to raise donations for the poor suffering in the pandemic and many hearing-impaired individuals agreed. These individuals weren't from any particular organisation and they selflessly donated funds. Simranjeet Singh along with his friends raised Rs 98,000 to help people," RCB had said.
Earlier this week, RCB said that the players will sport the jerseys with the "My COVID Heroes" written on them all through the IPL season.
"RCB will also be supporting GiveIndia Foundation by donating the proceeds from the auction of the jerseys that players wear during season's first RCB match," read the statement.
"Royal Challengers Bangalore has always stood for playing bold in the face of adversities, and we believe that right now these Covid Heroes are embodying this purpose by relentlessly fighting for the greater good.
"Humanity is going to be grateful to them for many generations to come and through this campaign, we wanted to be among the first to pay tribute to their challenger spirit both on and off the field," said RCB chairman Sanjeev Churiwala.