IND vs ENG: Here is why England wore black t-shirts during the national anthem

The much-awaited England-India Test series has got underway and has already produced a lot of buzz on social media. The England cricket team was spotted wearing black t-shirts during their national anthem and that intrigued a lot of cricket on-lookers. The t-shirt had a phrase written over it that read: “Cricket is a game for everyone.”

According to the reports, the T-shirts were worn by the team with a view of sending the message of making the game more inclusive. This comes after England’s speedster Ollie Robinson was left out from the second Test match against New Zealand owing to his old racist and sexist tweets that went viral. The pacer Olly Stone came in as a replacement for him against the Kiwis for the second Test.

The T-shirts were however worn even during the second Test match against New Zealand earlier in June. The visitors had dominated the proceedings by winning the series 1-0. The English Cricket Board (ECB) had come under scanner previously when they did not take the knee when the West Indies had visited the nation last summer.

England wearing 'Cricket is for everyone' black shirts over their whites during the national anthem ahead of the first Test ♥️#ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/ZjPBF5v0XD

— Rahul Pandey (@sportstoryguy) August 4, 2021

Ashwin misses out from the XI for the first Test against England

Everybody was already on the edge of their seats for this high octane contest. After winning the toss, the hosts have decided to bat first at Trent Bridge. However, a lot of talks are taking rounds about the exclusion of Ashwin on the side. India has gone with the pacing tandem of Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Mohammed Siraj. Ravindra Jadeja is the spinner who has got in owing to his all-round abilities.

Jasprit Bumrah who went wicketless in the WTC final scalped the wicket of Rory Burns early on, sending the batter back on a duck. Trying to block the delivery, Burns missed it completely and had to walk back to the pavilion even after going for the DRS. And after a brilliant DRS call by India, Siraj was successful in getting the wicket of Zak Crawley. Shami has also got one wicket under his belt so far.