Why Are Australia Players Wearing Black Armbands During the 2nd Test Against India in Adelaide?

India vs Australia 2nd Test at Adelaide of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is underway. Rohit Sharma and co. won the toss and have opted to bat on the Day 1 of the spectacle. Well, India won the 1st Test at Perth by 295 runs. The 2nd Test is underway, and India will look to extend their lead of 1-0 while the Australians will make sure to make the most of the home advantage to level the series.

Why is Australia wearing a black armband during the 2nd Test against India at Adelaide?

Australian players on Friday wore black armbands during the second pink-ball Test against India here in memory of former cricketers Phillip Hughes and Ian Redpath. Former Australia opening batter Hughes died in 2014 after being struck on the head by a short ball during a Sheffield Shield match. Redpath, also an opener, passed away earlier this month.

Cricket Australia had earlier decided to commemorate the 10th death anniversary of Hughes during the day/night match.

A documentary on the life of opening batter was also displayed at the Adelaide Oval before the start of play.

Games in the Sheffield Shield last week also saw players wear black armbands to mark the passing of the New South Wales player.

Hughes played 26 Tests for Australia since making his debut against South Africa in Johannesburg in February 2009. He also played 25 ODI matches between 2013 and 2014 and a lone T20I.

Redpath passed away on December 1 at the age of 83 following an illness. He played 66 Tests and five ODIs for Australia between 1964 and 1976.

India Squad

Playing: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant (wk), Rohit Sharma (c), Nitish Reddy, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harshit Rana, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

Bench: Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravindra Jadeja, Sarfaraz Khan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep

Support Staff: Gautam Gambhir, Abhishek Nayar, Ryan ten Doeschate, T Dilip, Morne Morkel

Australia Squad

Playing: Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland

Bench: Beau Webster, Josh Inglis, Brendan Doggett, Sean Abbott

Support Staff : Andrew McDonald, Andre Borovec, Daniel Vettori, Michael Di Venuto, Clint McKay

(PTI Inputs)