India, July 8 -- Thomas Cup is equivalent to winning the Cricket World Cup. Chirag Shetty didn't mince his words when the ace shuttler questioned the Maharashtra government for felicitating Rohit Sharma's Team India after their historic title win at the ICC T20 World Cup. Already rewarded bumper prize money for lifting the T20 World Cup by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), members of the T20 World Cup-winning Indian team were given a cash prize of Rs.11 crore on Friday.After receiving a heroes' welcome in New Delhi and Mumbai, Rohit and Co. were honoured at the Vidhan Bhawan in the presence of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. Rohit and Co. also met the Maharashtra Chief Minister at his residence in Mumbai.

Captain Rohit, premier batter Suryakumar Yadav, all-rounder Shivam Dube, and opener Yashasvi Jaiswal were presented with shawls and idols of Lord Ganesha as the Chief Minister congratulated the Indian cricket team for lifting the famous trophy in the Caribbean.A day after the special event in Maharashtra, Indian badminton star Chirag aimed at the state government for ignoring his achievement. Chirag was an integral part of the Indian badminton side that claimed the Thomas Cup in 2022. India outclassed Indonesia 3-0 in Bangkok to rewrite history at the time. Speaking to The Times of India, Chirag urged the government to treat all sports equally."Thomas Cup is equivalent to winning the World Cup. I was part of the Indian badminton team which won its maiden title, shocking champions Indonesia in the final. I was the only Maharashtra player in the Indian team. When the government can honour World Cup-winning cricket stars, they should also recognise my efforts. Government should treat any other sport equally," Chirag said.Star Indian men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag claimed the world number-one ranking after a series of sensational performances. The duo won the Commonwealth Games gold medal, a bronze at the World Championships in 2022, and a gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

The Thomas Cup winners also bagged the French Open and Thailand Open title wins this year. They also punched their tickets for the Malaysian Super 750 and India Super 750."I have nothing against cricket. In fact, we all badminton players watched the T20 World Cup final live on TV and celebrated enthusiastically. We are happy and proud about their sensational win against South Africa in the final. Similarly, we had also achieved something remarkable a couple of years ago, but the state government did not even felicitate me, leave apart giving any cash rewards. Before 2022, the Indian badminton team had never even reached the semifinals but we created history by winning the title," Chirag added.

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