World Cup 2019: Why Pakistan players are wearing black armbands against Australia

ICC Cricket World Cup 2019: The Pakistan cricket team was seen sporting black armbands during their World Cup match against Australia on Wednesday.

Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed explained at the toss that they were wearing the black armbands in honour of Pakistan’s Test umpire Riazuddin who passed away earlier this week. 

Riazuddin was part of the ICC Elite Panel of Umpires and officiated in 12 Test matches and as many One-Day Internationals during his tenure at the highest level.

Ahmed won the toss and elected to bowl against Australia in their ICC World Cup match on Wednesday. Australia have left out spinner Adma Zampa and replaced him with fast bowler Kane Richardson while Shaun Marsh came in for injured Marcus Stoinis. Pakistan have included paceman Shaheen Afridi, leaving out leg-spinner Shadab Khan.

AUS vs PAK Playing 11s

Australia: Aaron Finch (C), David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Alex Carey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Kane Richardson.

Pakistan: Aaron Finch (capt), Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Amir.