India and Australian players were seen wearing a black armband and observing a one minute silence in memory of 17-year-old cricketer Ben Austin who died on Tuesday after being hit on the neck in the nets. Earlier on Thursday, October 30, the Australian and Indian Women's teams were also seen doing the same during the semi-final match of the ICC Women's World Cup
How did Ben Austin die?
Austin was training at Ferntree Gully cricket club in suburban Melbourne when he was hit on the neck by the ball. The youngster was put on a ventilator after the incident, but he succumbed to the injury. Austin was wearing a helmet but not the neck protection, evoking the memories of the death of Australian batter Phil Hughes.
India to bat first against Australia
Suryakumar Yadav once again lost the toss in Melbourne and was asked to bat first by Australia skipper Micthell Marsh. Australia made one change with Matt Short coming in for Josh Philippe. India named an unchanged playing XI
Australia Playing XI: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh (capt), Josh Inglis (wk), Tim David, Mitch Owen, Marcus Stoinis, Matt Short, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Matt Kuhnemann, Josh Hazlewood
India Playing XI : Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Sanju Samson (wk), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah
