The much-awaited India vs England Test series kickstarted in Chennai on Friday. However, as the match kickstarted the England cricketers and staff members were wearing black armbands.
As the game kickstarted, England skipper Joe Root won the toss and elected to bat. Both the openers – Dom Sibley and Rory Burns were seen wearing black armbands as they walked out on the field to face the Indian bowlers.
England will be wearing black arm bands for Capt Sir Tom Moore
— Nick Hoult (@NHoultCricket) February 3, 2021
The gesture was made by the England cricketers to pay their respect to international war veteran Captain Sir Tom Moore, who passed away at the age of 100 earlier this week. The veteran was admitted to the hospital after he tested positive for Coronavirus. Since then, several current and former England cricketers have been paying their respect to Sir Tom Moore following his demise.
Earlier, a video was shared on ECB’s official Twitter handle, where Joe Root expressed his condolences over Moore’s death. He had said:
“Really sad news, had the pleasure of getting a chance to speak to him at the start of the last year. I am sure his family would be extremely proud of the legacy he has left behind. Someone gave the nation a chance to smile about in these dark times. All the great things he did for the National Health Services (NHS), on behalf of the whole cricket team, I would like to send thoughts to him and his family”
“He spoke very fondly about the game of cricket throughout his life. From the whole cricket community, he will be sadly missed,”
Here, watch the video:
A message from our Test captain Joe Root following the sad passing of Captain Sir Tom Moore. pic.twitter.com/nDcMR4lCF5
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) February 3, 2021
Talking about the game, the Indian skipper Virat Kohli and Ishant Sharma made an expected comeback to the team. Joe Root chose to bat first against India in Chennai. Explaining his reasons for the reason, Root said:
“We are going to bat first. We are going to try and get the best of this wicket, think it will deteriorate as the game moves forward and maybe go up down for the seamers and take spin for the spinners,”
