Global music superstar Katy Perry turned up at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground on the eve of the Women's T20 World Cup 2020 final to meet the Indian team.
The official Twitter handles of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared post with captions, which read "A social media sensation... and Katy Perry" and "Cause there's a spark in you" respectively. BCCI's message is a line from Perry's hit 2010 song Firework.
And the "social media sensation" referred in the ICC tweet is Indian batter Jemimah Rodrigues.
In another tweet shared by @T20WorldCup, Perry was seen asking for India's playing XI. But she was left disappointed.
Anyway, here are the likely XIs:
Australia: Beth Mooney, Alyssa Healy (wk), Meg Lanning (c), Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes, Jess Jonassen, Nicola Carey, Delissa Kimmince, Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux, Megan Schutt.
India: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Deepti Sharma, Veda Krishnamurthy, Taniya Bhatiya (wk), Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad.
Perry will perform two songs to get the final underway and return for a post-match concert, with her full band, once the on-field presentations have concluded.
The final coincides with the 2020 International Women's Day.
In the light of the current coronavirus scare, the mother-to-be singer has postponed her marriage with fiance Orlando Bloom which was scheduled to take place in Japan.
India progressed as the top-ranked team in their group after their match against England was washed out. Host and defending champions Australia defeated South Africa by five runs in the other semi-final.
