India wearing black armbands: Why are Indian cricketers wearing black armbands today at The Oval?

India wearing black armbands: The Indian cricketers are wearing black armbands in the ongoing fourth Test at The Oval.

During the first day of the fourth Test of the ongoing India’s tour of England at The Oval, England captain Joe Root has won the toss and chose to field.

Despite coming on the back of a massive victory in Leeds, England have made a couple of changes to their Playing XI. Root, who had talked about both vice-captain Jos Buttler and all-rounder Sam Curran during the post-match presentation ceremony at Headingley, has had to include replacements for them in Ollie Pope and Chris Woakes.

Much like England, India have also made a couple of changes to their Playing XI as fast bowlers Shardul Thakur and Umesh Yadav have been included as like-for-like replacements for Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami.

“Two changes – Ishant [Sharma] and [Mohammed] Shami have niggles – Umesh [Yadav] and Shardul [Thakur] are back,” India captain Virat Kohli told Sky Sports at the toss.

India wearing black armbands

As was the case with the hosts in the third match in Leeds, the visiting players wearing black armbands at The Oval today has made the fans ponder about the reason for the same.

It is worth mentioning that Indian cricketers have decided to wear black armbands on Day 1 as a mark of respect for former Mumbai and Baroda batsman Vasudeo Paranjape, who passed away after a prolonged illness earlier this week.

In 29-match first-class career during the 50s and 60s, Paranjape had scored 785 runs at an average of 23.78 including a couple of centuries and half-centuries each. Paranjape, 82, hadn’t played international cricket but had played the role of a mentor to legendary Indian batsmen namely Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Rohit Sharma.

A known figure in the Indian domestic circuit, Paranjape’s demise was followed by the family receiving heartfelt wishes from not just Mumbai’s cricketers but cricketers from across the country.