Here is why Indian players are wearing black armbands in the warm-up game against County XI

After serving the break, the Indian team regrouped in Durham for their practice game against the County Select XI. The first practice game of the team was scheduled to be played on Tuesday, July 20. However, the Indian team was spotted wearing a black band during the ongoing practice match.

The players sported the black armbands to extend their tribute to the former Indian cricketer Yashpal Sharma who passed away due to a severe cardiac arrest last week. Paying their tribute to the veteran, all the players walked the Durham Cricket Ground with the band around their arms. Yashpal Sharma had played alongside Ravi Shastri in the 1983 World Cup.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) took it to Twitter to express the sad demise of Sharma and the tribute to him by the players. The board captioned the post as: “#TeamIndia are sporting black armbands to mourn the sad demise of former India cricketer Yashpal Sharma ji, who sadly passed away on 13th July after a cardiac arrest. Head Coach @RaviShastriOfc was his teammate in the 1983 World Cup-winning squad.”

Team India extends tribute to Yashpal Sharma

Yashpal Sharma had represented India in 37 Tests, scoring 1606 runs, and 42 ODIs in which he chipped in 883 runs. He was also one of the architects of India’s victory in the 1983 World Cup campaign as he had top-scored with the bat for the team. Apart from this, he was also part of the selection panel for the 2011 World Cup. He was reported to have collapsed after returning from a morning walk on July 13.

The players thus mourned his demise while playing the warm-up match. About the team, Virat Kohli isn’t part of this team as Rohit Sharma is captaining the side. This match is expected to help the team understand the English conditions better ahead of their five-match Test series against England.

In the absence of Rishabh Pant, KL Rahul is up with the glovework, this would be a testing time for him as well to up his chances of opening the match alongside Rohit in the first Test. This could quite go India’s way to start their second WTC on a winning note.