Jay Shah gifts T20 World Cup tickets, Team India jersey and bat to Lionel Messi - Watch

Argentina’s football icon Lionel Messi was presented with India vs USA Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 tickets by ICC chairman Jay Shah during the final leg of his G.O.A.T. India Tour at Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and DDCA president Rohan Jaitley were also present for the ceremony.

Alongside Messi, fellow Argentine stars Rodrigo De Paul and Luis Suarez received a Team India jersey and a framed cricket bat.

Adding to the gifts, former India goalkeeper Aditi Chauhan, who played for West Ham United in the Women’s Premier League, presented signed T-shirts to all three football stars.

Addressing the crowd at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Messi expressed his gratitude for the overwhelming reception.

“Thank you for all the affection you have shown us here in India over these days. Truly, it was a unique experience for us to be able to share this. Although it was intense and very short, it was wonderful to receive all this love, which I already knew was there, but experiencing it firsthand was incredible. Everything you did for us over these days was astonishing, pure madness.

So thank you all for the love, and we will surely return someday — perhaps to play a match or on some other occasion — but we will definitely visit again.

Thank you very much, thank you,” Messi said. Messi’s arrival in Delhi was delayed due to fog, with his charter flight touching down later than scheduled. He headed straight to The Leela Palace Hotel for a one-hour meet-and-greet with a select group of guests. The GOAT Tour had earlier faced organisational challenges in Kolkata, where a massive turnout at Salt Lake Stadium led to frustration due to poor crowd management.

In Hyderabad, Messi engaged in a number of fan-friendly activities, including playing with children, taking photos, and waving from the VIP box during a club match at Uppal Stadium. Before reaching Delhi, Messi spent the evening in Mumbai, interacting with cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, current and former Indian footballers, as well as film stars, celebrities, and politicians at the Wankhede Stadium, creating another memorable moment of his India tour.