cricket

Updated: Feb 24, 2019 19:07 IST

The Indian cricket team players were all wearing black armbands during the first T20I against Australia in Visakhapatnam on Sunday in remembrance of the CRPF soldiers who lost their lives in the Pulwama terror attack.

The two teams observed a minute of silence before the start of the match for the victims of the terror attack which was carried out by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in Pulwama in Kashmir on February 14.

READ: Mayank Markande makes debut in Visakhapatnam T20I

Following the dastardly attack in Pulwama that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF jawans, calls have intensified for India to boycott their clash against Pakistan. India skipper has now come out to say that they will stand by whatever decision the government of India and Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) take in the matter.

“Our stand is simple. We stick by what the nation wants to do and what the BCCI decides to do and that is basically our opinion,” skipper Kohli said on the eve of India’s opening T20 International against Australia.

READ: India vs Australia, 1st T20I at Visakhapatnam, Live score and updates

Australia won the toss and elected to field against India in the first T20 International match at the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium. For India, KL Rahul came back into the playing XI while Shikhar Dhawan was been rested. Pacer Umesh Yadav replaced Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Vijay Shankar made way for debutant Mayank Markande. For Australia, Peter Handscomb is making his debut.