Dalai Lama meets team New Zealand ahead of World Cup match

Dharamsala, Oct 24 (IANS) After Sunday’s match against India, the New Zealand cricket team and their families on Tuesday met His Holiness the Dalai Lama at his residence in McLeodganj, a small and quaint hill station with the snow-clad Dhauladhar range in the background, on the suburbs of Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh .

Dressed in traditional maroon robes, the Dalai Lama, the global face of the Tibetan exile movement, spent around an hour interacting with players and sharing notes, besides playfully tickling someone’s beard, or patting another gently on the cheek or nose, an expression of his genuine love for others.

Some players sought his blessings. The Dalai Lama enjoyed meeting them, a functionary in the Dalai Lama’s office told IANS.

His Holiness also obliged them by allowing them to get themselves photographed with him, he added.

The New Zealand team is scheduled to play against Australia in Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) stadium in Dharamsala in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup on October 28.

The HPCA stadium, about 250 km from state capital Shimla, has nine wickets with a seating capacity of 22,000 people.

Recently, the Dalai Lama had to cancel his trip to Sikkim and Karnataka in November-December on the advice of doctors following a recent bout of flu.

The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since fleeing Tibet during a failed uprising in 1959.