England skipper Jos Buttler won the toss and decided to bowl first as Team India will be defending a score for the first time in the ongoing ICC Men's Cricket World Cup. India have chased in all the games so far in the tournament and have won, hence, it will be a slight change for the Men in Blue batting first for the first time against a competent English attack. However, as the Indian players walked out in the middle for the national anthem, all of them had black armbands around their left biceps.
The black armbands were in tribute to former India left-arm spinner Bishan Singh Bedi, who breathed his last on Monday, October 23. Bedi, who was battling illness for a long time was one of the best left-arm spinners in the world and formed a famed Indian spin quartet in the 1970s. The BCCI confirmed in a statement on X (formerly Twitter) that the Indian team will sport the black armbands in memory of Bedi.
"Team India will be wearing Black Armbands in memory of the legendary Bishan Singh Bedi before the start of play against England in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023," BCCI wrote.
The flashes of England of 2019 were on show as Chris Woakes was getting the ball to move, David Willey was rushing the batters as India lost three wickets for not many just by the 12th over mark. India will need skipper Rohit Sharma to spend a lot of time as the Men in Blue are in danger of getting folded early.
Playing XIs
India: Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul(w), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
England: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler(w/c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, Mark Wood
