Dhoni, Sangakkara bat for AIDS awareness

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, his South African counterpart Graeme Smith and Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara are taking part in an ICC-promoted AIDS awareness campaign in the ongoing Twenty20 World Cup in Barbados.

"Leading cricketers including Kumar Sangakkara, Graeme Smith, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Stafanie Taylor have united during the ICC World Twenty20 2010 to show their support for cricket's global efforts to combat HIV," the ICC said in a statement.

A series of community activities have taken place during the tournament as part of the Think Wise partnership, between the ICC, UNAIDS, UNICEF and the Global Media AIDS Initiative, which aims to raise awareness of HIV and reduce stigma and discrimination.

Sangakkara visited a school in Barbados to deliver an HIV prevention session, the India and South Africa teams both hosted community groups and carried out cricket training sessions and West Indian woman cricketers Stafanie Taylor and Stacy-Ann King went to a teenage pregnancy project in St Kitts.

Tickets have been donated to local community groups who run HIV prevention programmes, umpires are wearing Think Wise logos on their shirts and players in the semi-finals and final will wear red ribbons as a show of support for people living with HIV.

"I think that Think Wise is very important given the prevalence of HIV and AIDS in cricket-playing countries. I can already see this partnership is working around the ICC's signature tournaments, such as the ICC World Twenty20 and the Cricket World Cup," said Sangakkara.