Salute! Gambhir to bear education expenses of slain CRPF officers' kids

New Delhi: Taking a commendable step, Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir on Friday announced to bear all the educational expenses of the children of 26 CRPF personnel, who martyred in a Maoist ambush in Chhattisgarh's south Sukma region on Monday last.

Announcing the same, the left-handed batsman said that his Gautam Gambhir Foundation will provide all the required support in this regard and initial steps have already been taken.

The captain of Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) said that he was deeply shaken from inside after seeing the pictures of grieving daughters of two slain CRPF officials in the newspaper.

"On Wednesday morning, I picked up newspapers and saw gut-wrenching pictures of the daughters of two CRPF men killed in the latest attacks. One was saluting her martyred father while in the other picture, the howling young woman was being consoled by her relative," Gambhir wrote in his column for a leading daily.

His KKR teammates also wore black arm bands during their game against Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) on Wednesday to mark respect to the martyred Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officers.

"The Gautam Gambhir Foundation will take care of the entire education expenses of the children of these martyrs. My team has already started work on this and I shall soon share the progress we have made," he wrote.

Also Read: Sacrifice of 25 CRPF jawans will not go in vain, PM Modi on Sukma encounter

Gambhir, who smashed a match-winning half-century in the match, said that it was really tough to concentrate in the match after the Chhattisgarh incident.

He, however, claimed that losing a Cricket match can never be compared to losing a dear one while serving the country.

"It is for the same reasons I love armed forces too, although the quantum of losing a dear one while serving the country can never ever be compared to losing a cricket match," he further wrote.