Ranchi, Jan 15: Former Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, archer Deepika Kumari and folk singer Mukund Nayak are among the 16 distinguished individuals from Jharkhand who have been invited for the consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22.

Senior RSS functionary Dhananjay Singh on Monday handed over the invitation to Dhoni at his residence in Ranchi. BJP organising secretary Karmaveer Singh was also present on the occasion.

Singh told PTI: "We handed over the invitation card to him (Dhoni) on behalf of the Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust for the Pran Pratishtha ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22."

Singh said that Dhoni and his family members expressed their happiness after receiving the invitation.

"As many as 16 distinguished personalities including senior BJP leader and Padma Bhusan Karia Munda, Padma Shri Mukund Nayak, Padma Shri archer Deepika Kumari, AJSU Party chief Sudesh Mahto have been invited for the consecration ceremony in Ayodhya," he said.

Singh added that 69 people from the sage fraternity from Jharkhand have also been invited.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the installation of the idol of Ram Lalla at the temple on the day.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) national spokesperson Vinod Bansal during his Jharkhand visit on January 10 had said that around 7,000 people, including approximately 100 representatives from abroad, will attend the ceremony.

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Lucknow (PTI): Lucknow Super Giants pacer Mohsin Khan added another sordid chapter to Kolkata Knight Riders' batting woes, taking five wickets to restrict the three-time champions to a modest 155 for seven in their IPL match here on Sunday.

Mohsin’s 5 for 23, a personal best for the left-arm pacer in this format, tore apart an already struggling KKR batting unit, as he snaffled the cream wickets of Ajinkya Rahane, Tim Seifert, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell and Anukul Roy.

Rinku Singh (83 not out, 51 balls) made a well-paced fifty and punished Mohammed Shami in the 19th over for 6, 4, 4 and the smoked four sixes in a row against spinner Digvesh Rathi as KKR made 43 runs in the last two overs to go past the 150-run mark.

But his fifty remained a lone act, as Mohsin firmly stood in the limelight.

His bowling ethos were rooted in simple tactics — bang the ball into the black soil pitch to gain bounce or use cutters at various pace to keep the batters guessing.

Mohsin, who started the night with a wicket maiden, showed his variety across two dismissals.

He followed Rahane with a fuller ball as the batter tried to go over the covers, but the ball’s trajectory forced the KKR skipper to just slice the ball up for a simple catch for Aiden Markram.

The 27-year-old stayed calm when Green, who looked comfortable out there while smashing George Linde for two successive sixes, slammed him for a huge maximum.

Two balls later, Mohsin dug one short, challenging Green (34) to go for the pull and the Australian all-rounder took the bait.

The into-the-body angle worked again as Green could only sky the ball to wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.

Green’s ouster also ended a fifth wicket alliance worth 42 with Rinku Singh.

Bizarre dismissal of Raghuvanshi

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If the existing turmoil was not enough, KKR had to bear the dejection of seeing Angkrish Raghuvanshi getting dismissed obstructing the field.

On the final ball of the fifth over from Prince Yadav, Raghuvanshi nudged one towards mid-on and set off for a single, only to be rejected by Green.

Raghuvanshi put in a dive to save himself but he came in the line of the throw from Shami.

Subsequently, third umpire Rohit Pandit accepted LSG’s appeal and decided that the batter’s turning radius was more than required, eventually resulting in the batter’s dismissal in a rare manner.