IND vs WI: Why are West Indies players wearing black armbands on Day 1 of second Test against India in New Delhi?

West Indies players are wearing black armbands on Day 1 of the second Test against India at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday as a tribute to former player Bernard Julien who passed away last week. Julien was a member of the West Indies team that won the 1975 World Cup under the leadership of Clive Llyod.

“The West Indies players are wearing black armbands on day 1 as a tribute to former player Bernard Julien who passed away last week. Allrounder Julien was a member of the 1975 World Cup winning team,” Cricket West Indies said in a statement.

An all-rounder, Julien made his debut for West Indies in 1973 and played 24 Test and 12 ODIs, scoring 866 and 86 runs respectively. He also took 30 Test wickets and 18 ODI scalps.

Earlier, the Indian skipper Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bat first. Interestingly this is the first time Gill won the toss as an Indian captain. The 25-year-old, who started his captaincy journey full time on England tour, lost six consecutive tosses before winning his first on Friday. The hosts currently lead the two-match series 1-0, having won the first game in Ahmedabad by an innings and 140 runs.

While the Indian captain named an unchanged side, the Caribbean side has made two changes to their squad. The visitors brought in Tevim Imlach and Anderson Phillip in the line-up in place of Brandon King and Johann Layne, respectively.

India vs West Indies 2nd Test playing XIs

West Indies: John Campbell, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Alick Athanaze, Shai Hope, Roston Chase(c), Tevin Imlach(w), Justin Greaves, Jomel Warrican, Khary Pierre, Anderson Phillip, Jayden Seales

India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Shubman Gill (c), Dhruv Jurel(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj