Team India will wear black armbands in their Champions Trophy 2025 semifinal match against Australia at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, March 4. The move is a tribute to former Mumbai cricketer Padmakar Shivalkar, who died on March 3 at the age of 84.
Notably, the left-arm spinner Shivalkar represented Mumbai in 124 first-class games and took 589 wickets at an average of 19.69. He picked 42 five-wicket hauls and 13 ten-wicket hauls. He was even one of the best spinners in domestic cricket despite not playing for India even at the international level.
The tribute was announced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on social media. “In memory of late Shri Padmakar Shivalkar, Team India will be wearing black armbands today,” the BCCI tweeted on X (formerly Twitter).
Captain Rohit Sharma was observed wearing the black armband during the toss, in which Australia won and chose to bat first. India went into the match with the same XI.
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Indian Team Unbeaten in the Tournament
Indian Team has dominated in the Champions Trophy 2025, going unbeaten in the group stage. They led Group A with 6 points, claiming wins in all 3 games.
The Men in Blue began their campaign with an easy six-wicket win against Bangladesh, followed by a seamless six-wicket win against archrivals Pakistan. In their last group-stage encounter, they beat New Zealand by 44 runs and qualified for the semifinal.
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India and Australia last met in the Champions Trophy in 2009, which was washed out. The Men in Blue won the trophy in 2013 and were runners-up in 2017 when they were beaten by Pakistan in the final. With an unbeaten record till date, India will attempt to get win over Australia and inch closer to recapturing the highly sought-after title.