During a warm-up game in England on Tuesday, India cricketers paid tribute to the late Yashpal Sharma by wearing black armbands. Yashpal Sharma, a member of the 1983 World Cup-winning Indian team, passed away on July 13 at the age of 66 after suffering a cardiac arrest. Team India is playing a three-day warm-up match against County Select XI at the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street, County Durham, ahead of their five-Test series against England. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared images of Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal wearing black armbands, as they walked out to bat on Day 1 of the warm-up game.
"#TeamIndia are sporting black armbands to mourn the sad demise of former India cricketer Yashpal Sharma ji, who sadly passed away on 13th July after a cardiac arrest. Head Coach @RaviShastriOfc was his teammate in the 1983 World Cup winning squad," BCCI tweeted.
Yashpal Sharma is survived by his wife, two daughters, and a son. In the 1983 World Cup, he was the second-highest run-scorer for India. In one of his most memorable innings, in the 1983 World Cup, he scored 89 in the opening game against the mighty West Indies. In the semi-final against England, he scored 61 runs.
He represented India in 42 ODIs and scored 883 runs. He played 37 Tests for the country and scored 1,606 runs at an average of 33.46.
After announcing his retirement, he served Indian cricket as a selector. He was also part of the country's selection panel that picked the team for the 2011 World Cup, which Indian went on to win, beating Sri Lanka in the final.
In the warm-up game, in the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli and his deputy Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma is leading the Indian squad. Rohit opted to bat first after winning the toss. KL Rahul has been picked in the playing XI as a wicket-keeper batsman in the absence of Rishabh Pant, who is currently in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19. Seamers Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma have also been rested from the game.