Members of both India and Australia cricket teams were spotted wearing black armbands on the opening day of the last Test match of four-match Test series at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). While the sentiments of both the teams were the same, their reasons for wearing the armbands were different.
The Australian team wore the black armband in the honour of former cricketer Bill Watson who died recently at the age of 87. Watson scored 1958 runs in 41 first-class Test matches in 66 innings with the help of six hundreds and five fifties. Watson’s highest score in first-class cricket was 206 which he scored against Western Australia at Perth in 1956 while playing for New South Wales.
As a mark of respect to the demise of Mr.Ramakant Achrekar, the team is wearing black arm bands today. #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/LUJXXE38qr
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 2, 2019
Virat Kohli-led Team India was seen wearing the armband as a mark of respect to Ramakant Achrekar. Achrekar, the former Indian cricketer, was best known for being the childhood coach of Sachin Tendulkar who has always acknowledged his contribution to his career. Achrekar was also a recipient of Padmashri and Dronacharya award.
The BCCI expresses its deepest sympathy on the passing of Dronacharya award-winning guru Shri Ramakant Achrekar. Not only did he produce great cricketers, but also trained them to be fine human beings. His contribution to Indian Cricket has been immense. pic.twitter.com/mK0nQODo6b
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 2, 2019
Other than Tendulkar, Achrekar also coached some other prominent players, including Vinod Kambli, Pravin Amre, Sameer Dighe, and Balwinder Singh Sandhu.