Rohit Sharma bats for cracker-free Diwali!

Opening batsman Rohit Sharma on Sunday, while extending greetings, urged the people of the country to celebrate cracker-free Diwali for ensuring the safety of animals.

Sharma took to his Twitter account to share a small clip of a few dogs, who seem frightened with the sound of the bursting crackers.

He captioned the post as "Happy Diwali to all my fellow Indians. Let's hope this Diwali brings more light and shine to us. Let's light up Diwali with diyas and keep these furry ones in mind before bursting any crackers. It was horrible to see them this scared."

Sharma recently scored 539 runs in the three-match Test series against South Africa. This performance also enabled him to win the Man of The Series award.

He scored three centuries in the series. As a result, he became only the second Indian opener after Sunil Gavaskar to score three or more centuries in a series.

In the last Test at Ranchi, he played a knock of 212 runs and this enabled him to enter the top ten rankings in the Test format.

The 32-year-old is currently placed at the tenth position in the ICC Test batsmen rankings.

He will be leading the T20I side in the three-match series against Bangladesh as regular skipper Virat Kohli has been rested for the three matches.

India will take on Bangladesh in the first T20I of the three-match series on November 3 at the Arun Jaitley stadium, New Delhi.