A minute of silence was also observed before start of play at Headingley.
A new dawn of Indian cricket is here as Shubman Gill & Co. take on the field at Headingley to face the mighty England for the first Test of the five-match series. However, as the players lined up, they were seen wearing black armbands. Additionally, a minute of silence was observed before the national anthem in remembrance of the deceased during the Ahmedabad plane crash last week.
The Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12 led to the demise of hundreds of innocent lives. To pay their respect to the lives lost, the players donned the black armbands.
England Cricket took to social media and confirmed, “Both teams will wear black armbands today as a mark of respect for those who lost their lives in the Air India plane crash. Our thoughts are with all those affected by the terrible events that took place in Ahmedabad last week.”
Apart from the Headingley Test today, many leagues across the sport showed their support throughout the week.
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (w), Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (w), Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna.
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Both teams marked the start of their World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle with this Headingley Test. During the coin toss, Ben Stokes won and elected to bowl first.
Talking about the Indian side, Sai Sudharsan was handed his maiden Test cap. Coincidentally, Virat Kohli, Rahul Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly also made their Test debuts on this day.
The 23-year-old earned his spot on the back of his brilliant performances in FC cricket, the County Championship, and the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL). Gill confirmed that his Gujarat Titans teammate will play in the No.3 spot for India. The skipper will take the next position, No.4.
At the time of completing this report. India have made 27 runs at the loss of no wickets after 10 overs. Yashasvi Jaiswal (19) and KL Rahul (8) are unbeaten on the crease. Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse have bowled a spell of five overs each.
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