Dalai Lama fakes love for cricket: China

China has accused the Dalai Lama of faking a passion for cricket to impress his Indian hosts

China has accused the Dalai Lama of faking a passion for cricket to impress his Indian hosts.

The spiritual leaderu00a0 aroused Beijing's anger when he attended an Indian Premier League Twenty-20 cricket match as a special guest last month when Chennai Super Kings (CSK) played Kings XI Punjab in Dharamsala.

Faking it: The Dalai Lama with the CSK team. File pic

Prior to the match, he held a "spiritual dialogue" with the players. During the session, the Dalai Lama said he had never been much of a sportsman, but recalled once beating Zhou Enlai, the former Chinese premier, at table tennis. He added that he had enjoyed playing football as a young man in exile, and liked cricket.

Beijing's ire was voiced earlier this week in an editorial in the government-run People's Daily newspaper. "The religious leader was trying to prove to be a worthy son of India by participating in the country's favourite pastime."

The dily claimed he had no right to speak on "China's internal issue concerning Tibet" if he was the "son of a foreign country".

The paper's comments were rejected by a spokesman for the Tibetan Government in Exile. "It reflects the China's arrogance; since His Holinessu00a0 had no freedom in Tibet, he left for India, where he enjoys freedom."