IND vs SL: Why India players are wearing black armbands in 1st ODI vs Sri Lanka?

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IND vs SL: Team India players were seen black armbands during the first ODI against Sri Lanka on Friday to honour the memory of Anshuman Gaekwad, who passed away on Wednesday.

Anshuman Gaekwad was a former Indian cricketer and coach. He died after a prolonged battle with blood cancer at age of 71. He was admitted in a London hospital for a long time before returning to India a month ago.

As a tribute to the contribution of Anshuman Gaekwad to Indian cricket and in his loving memory, the Men in Blue sported black armbands on their left arms in the first ODI at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.

“Team India is wearing black armbands today in memory of former Indian cricketer and coach Aunshuman Gaekwad, who passed away on Wednesday,” the BCCI said in a statement.

Indian skipper Rohit Sharma had said that he was fortunate to have conversations with Gaekwad on many occasions.

“I was absolutely devastated to hear that news. I was lucky to have a few conversations with him during the BCCI awards, and on a personal note as well.

“When I was playing Ranji Trophy, he was there and he had a few things to talk about my game as well, which was overwhelming for me because he was such a great cricketer for us,” Rohit said on Thursday.

The T20 World Cup-winning skipper said it is always a good experience to learn from the seniors.

“It’s always nice when you learn from your seniors, understand how cricket was played back in the day, how tough it was and then to pass on his experiences on cricket and what his visions are about cricket. For me to understand that was a great learning at that point,” he added.

(With PTI Inputs)