Artisans at work: Varanasi looms spin T20 spirit into silk

Varanasi: Ahead of the 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup starting Saturday, weavers and artisans in Varanasi are creating unique, handwoven Banarasi silk sarees as a cultural gift for the families of Indian cricket team players.This is a heartfelt initiative to honour Team India, promote the city's legendary handloom heritage and blend tradition with national pride.The designs were prepared under initiatives of Kashyam Srijan Foundation, with input from local designer Lakshmi Vishwakarma. "The key features of these T20 special saree designs include pure silk (often Katan or fine Banarasi silk) with rich, intricate zari work (gold/silver threads), cricket-inspired motifs, like cricket pitch layouts, bat and ball elements and World Cup trophies won in 1983, 2007, 2011, 2024, T20 wins, plus others like 1992, 1996, 2015 Women's World Cup," said Sarvesh Kumar Srivastava, trustee, Kashyam Srijan Foundation.The weaving style shows traditional handloom techniques with classic Banarasi patterns, but is customised with these modern, sporty themes. Each saree takes about one month or more to complete due to the detailed handwork. This is a limited, special project, not a regular commercial "T20" line. The buzz is specifically around these cricket-themed Banarasi sarees to support the Men in Blue.Srivastava said that the objective of this initiative is to promote Banarasi handloom using the fever of the Cricket World Cup. "We will organise an event after the World Cup matches are over to present this gift to cricket players for their wives and families," he said.Earlier, Srivastava and his team of skilled weavers also meticulously crafted exquisite saris inspired by the theme of ‘Ram Mandir' before the Pran Pratishtha ceremony in Ayodhya on Jan 22, 2024. At that time, the saris were crafted using the ancient ‘Uchant' weaving technique. This technique, he claimed, dates back to Lord Ram's era, when looms were devoid of Jacquard machines. The Jacquard machine, a device integrated into a loom to simplify the production of textiles with intricate patterns, is absent in the ‘Uchant' weaving method.