As a homage to Milkha Singh, Team India wears black armbands in WTC Final

As a tribute to the legendary Indian sprinter aka ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh, who passed away on Friday due to Covid-19 related complications, the Indian cricket team wore black armbands on Saturday when they showed up for the national anthem before the commencement of the World Test Championship final at the Rose Bowl, Southampton.

Apart from that, Current Indian Test players, namely Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant, as well as head coach Ravi Shastri, paid tribute to the Olympian on Social media.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also posted, "#TeamIndia is wearing black armbands in memory of Milkha Singhji, who passed away due to COVID-19."

On 19th May, the 91-year-old tested positive for COVID-19, and was quarantined at his Chandigarh home after indicating that he was asymptomatic. However, on 24th May, the Padma Shree Awardee was taken to Mohali's Fortis hospital's ICU due to "COVID pneumonia." On 3rd June, he was transferred to PGIMER in Chandigarh.

He passed away five days after his wife Nirmal died as a result of post-Covid issues.

Milkha Singh, the "Flying Sikh," rose to fame in track and field, winning four gold medals in the Asian Games. In 1958, he also won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Cardiff. In the 1960 Rome Olympics, he finished fourth in the 400m final, narrowly missing out on an Olympic medal. Milkha Singh crossed the finish line in 45.73 seconds. In fact, it had been a national record for over 40 years until it was surpassed in 1998 by Paramjeet Singh.

Milkha Singh also competed in the Olympics in 1956 and 1964. He was given the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour, in 1959.

The first day of the WTC final in Southampton was rained out owing to heavy rain. Due to the excessive rain on the first day, no coin toss was possible.

On Day 2, Kane Williamson, the captain of New Zealand, won the toss and chose to bat first.