T20 World Cup 2021: Watch - Indian Players Take The Knee In Support Of BLM Movement; Pakistan Cricketers Put Hands On Their Hearts

The Team India players took the knee to show their support to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement ahead of the first ball of their match versus Pakistan. The two Asian giants clashed on Sunday evening in Dubai.

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has been a talking point over the past year with sportspersons taking a knee showing their strong support towards this cause. Throughout the T20 World Cup, we have seen other teams also doing this action to voice their solidarity against racism and other forms of discrimination.

While the Indian contingent took the knee, the Pakistan players were standing with their hands on their hearts. Rohit Sharma had enquired Babar Azam whether they’d too be taking the knee, but the Pakistan captain denied doing that. Instead, the Men In Green put their hands on their hearts.

Watch the video here:

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India lose openers to Shaheen Afridi

After electing to bowl first, Pakistan were given a scintillating start by ace pacer Shaheen Afridi as he dismissed both Indian openers early on. The left-arm speedster trapped Rohit Sharma lbw in the first over. The inswinging full-length delivery seamed in as Sharma got into an awkward position.

On the first ball of his second over, Afridi castled the in-form KL Rahul. Another inswinger on length, which nipped back in sharply breached through Rahul’s bat and pad gap as he tried to work it on the leg side, crashing into the sticks and giving India a nightmarish start.

Suryakumar Yadav has started off his innings with a maximum, which just evaded the fielder in the deep, while Virat Kohli is dealing calmly by rotating the strike. At the time of writing, India are 14/2 at the end of the third over.

Also Read: T20 World Cup: Watch – Liton Das And Lahiru Kumara Get Involved In A Heated On-Field Exchange