In a touching gesture by the International Cricket Council, the players from India and Australia paid their condolences to the victims of the Odisha train tragedy by wearing black armbands and observing a minute's silence before the start of the World Test Championship Final at The Oval on Wednesday.
India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bowl first against Australia in London. After the toss the players came out wearing black armbands.
The PA system then announced that a moment's silence will be observed to remember the victims of the triple train accident in Balasore which took place last Friday.
288 people died and nearly 1000 injured in one of the worst train disasters in India in over two decades.
Indian Leave Out R Ashwin
This is the second time in as many editions that India is featuring in the WTC Final. They had lost the summit clash of the inaugural edition against New Zealand under Virat Kohli's captaincy.
India have left out Ravichandran Ashwin and picked Ravindra Jadeja as the lone spinner. Umesh Yadav has been included as the fourth seamer along with Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj and Shardul Thakur in the Indian playing XI.
Australia (Playing XI): David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey(w), Pat Cummins(c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland
India (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma(c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Srikar Bharat(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj.
