He may not bend it like Beckham. But Baba Ramdev still showed up for a cameo performance at a charity football match in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday night.

Yes. The Yoga guru was at the stadium in a saffron dhoti and matching footwear during the charity match between country’s parliamentarians and Bollywood stars.

(PTI)

Ramdev made a special appearance on the pitch to raise awareness for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two pet-projects — the Swachh Bharat Mission and the Beti Bachao, Beti Badhao campaign for girl child empowerment.

“Baba Ramdev is a health enthusiast and football promotes good health. So he agreed to become the brand ambassador for the match,” the yoga guru’s communication advisor, Shantanu Gupta, had told HT last week.

(AP)

Abhishek Bachchan led the All Stars Football Club that included Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor, Dino Morea and Sidharth Malhotra among others.

The parliamentarians were led by minister of state for heavy industries Babul Supriyo. Former Indian football captain and Trinamool Congress MP, Prasun Banerjee was also part of the team.

(AFP)

Others lawmakers who showed off their soccer skills included BJP MPs Manoj Tewari, Parvesh Verma, Kamlesh Paswan, Satish Gautam, Bhola Singh, INLD’s Dushyant Chautala and Ram Mohan Naidu of Telugu Desam Party.

Organised by Adhunik, a private art gallery, the money from the match tickets, costing Rs 200, Rs 400 and Rs 800, was donated to the two campaigns.

(Vipin Kumar/HT Photo)