image credits(abplive)
Australian and Indian players are wearing black armbands : The second match of the five-match T20 series between India and Australia is being played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Australia captain Mitchell Marsh won the toss and decided to bowl first in this match. Interestingly, in this match, the players of both the teams have entered the field wearing black armbands. The reason behind this is, A few days ago, 17-year-old cricketer Ben Austin (Ben Austin News) died an unfortunate death.
A minute of silence was observed at the MCG following the tragic passing of Ben Austin ❤️ pic.twitter.com/xly79nAgcg
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 31, 2025
2 minutes silence before the match
Before the start of the Melbourne T20 match, players from both teams observed 17-year-old Ben Austin’s death by observing a two-minute silence. On October 28, Ben Austin was practicing with the Nets ahead of a domestic T20 match in Melbourne. According to reports, he was batting in front of an automatic bowling machine wearing a helmet when a ball hit him near the neck and below the head. He was immediately rushed to the hospital, but despite the efforts of doctors, he died on October 29.
Such incidents are very rare in the history of cricket. Earlier in 2014, Australia’s Phillip Hughes died in a similar manner when he was hit in the back of the head by a ball during a Sheffield Shield match.
Women cricketers also paid tribute
In the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025 semi-final between India and Australia, both teams also wore black armbands to pay tribute to Ben Austin. Meanwhile, India have retained their squad for the second T20I in Melbourne, while Australia have made one change, replacing Josh Phillippe with Matthew Short.
Indian Team Playing XI – Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Tilak Verma, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dubey, Akshar Patel, Harshit Rana, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakraborty, Jasprit Bumrah.
Playing XI of Australia team – Mitchell Marsh (captain), Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Tim David, Matthew Short, Mitchell Owen, Marcus Stoinis, Xavier Bartlett, Nathan Ellis, Matthew Kuhneman, Josh Hazlewood.
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