The Indian cricket team decided to wear black armbands in the Cricket World Cup 2023 match against England on Sunday. With the decision, the team intended to pay tribute to the country’s legendary spinner Bishan Singh Bedi who passed away a few days ago. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed the same through a post on social media. “#TeamIndia 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,” the BCCI wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
#TeamIndia 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.#CWC23 | #MenInBlue | #INDvENG
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 29, 2023
Born in Amritsar in 1946, Bedi played 67 Tests for India and took 266 wickets with 14 five-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket haul.
He was part of Indian cricket’s golden quartet of spinners that also had Erapalli Prasanna, Bhagwat Chadrasekhar and Srinivas Venkataraghavan. They formed the core of India’s bowling unit for more than a decade between 1966 and 1978.
Bedi was briefly the manager of the Indian cricket team in 1990 during tours of New Zealand and England.
He was also a national selector and mentor to many talented spinners like Maninder Singh, Sunil Joshi and Murali Kartik, who all swore by his technical insight.
Bedi was also one of the most admired Indian captains and he led the team for nearly four years in Test cricket between 1975 and 1979 after Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi’s retirement.
The big names of Indian cricket including World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev, Madan Lal, Sehwag and Kirti Azad were there to pay their last respects.
Also present were Ashish Nehra, Ajay Jadeja, who is currently part of the Afghanistan support staff, and Murali Kartik, who learnt the tricks of the trade from the “Sardar of Spin”.
With PTI inputs
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