India's T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav along with four other members of the team went on a jungle safari in the Pench Tiger Reserve on Monday ahead of the opening match of the five-game series with New Zealand beginning at Nagpur on January 21.
Besides Yadav, wicketkeepers Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, batter Rinku Singh, and spinner Ravi Bishnoi enjoyed the jungle safari during a private visit to the reserve which straddles Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, an MP forest department official said.
Pench Tiger Reserve Field Director J Deva Prasad told PTI that the players arrived in Seoni on Saturday night and stayed at a resort. After undertaking the jungle safari on Monday morning, Team India's T20 stars left for Nagpur at around noon.
Another forest department official stated that during the safari, the players spotted leopards and other wildlife, but did not see a tiger. The cricketers went around the reserve in an open jeep and posed for photographs with fans, and accepted their greetings.
Pench wildlife photographer Rituraj Rahi Jaiswal said when the players returned to Nagpur for the first T20 match, he presented skipper Yadav an annual calendar with photographs depicting tigers, leopards, and other wildlife.
The players who visited Pench also shared photos and videos of their jungle safari on various social media platforms.
Yadav previously visited the Pench Tiger Reserve on February 15, 2025, an official said.
Batting legend and Bharat Ratna awardee Sachin Tendulkar visited the popular reserve, home to a wide range of wildlife such as tigers, chital, leopards, and sloth bears, with his family in 2023.
The three-match ODI series against New Zealand ended in Indore on Sunday with India losing the rubber 2-1. The focus has now shifted to the five-match T20 series with the first encounter between the two teams taking place at Nagpur on Wednesday.