IPL 2018: Rajasthan Royals to sport pink jerseys against CSK
What's the story?
The Rajasthan Royals will don a special pink-coloured jersey against the Chennai Super Kings in their home game on Friday (11th May) to spread awareness for the early screening of cancer.
"As a player, I think this initiative is a small but crucial step towards a direction of cancer-free society and I hope that we perform to the best of our ability to raise as much awareness as we can," Ajinkya Rahane said in a statement, as quoted by IANS.
In case you didn't know...
For the reach it garners due to the immense popularity of the sport in India, the IPL has previously acted as a platform to spread awareness about social issues in the past. Each year, the Royal Challengers Bangalore don the green jersey in a bid to spread a message on environment conservation.
The heart of the matter
The jersey will be a mix of three colours - pink, burgundy and teal. All three colours symbolise different kinds of cancer, pink for breast cancer, teal for cervical cancer and burgundy for oral cancer.
For the 'Cancer Out' campaign, captain Ajinkya Rahane along with teammates Heinrich Klaasen, Krishnappa Gowtham and Mahipal Lomror got themselves screened.
Author's take
The move by the Rajasthan Royals and the state government, in association with the National Cancer Grid, the Indian Cancer Society and the Indian Dental Association, is a fantastic move to spread awareness for a disease. As many as 17,35,350 new cases were diagnosed by the United Nations in 2018 - an initiative like this on a platform as big as the IPL can help increase awareness and create more impact on the masses.