T20 World Cup 2021, India vs Pakistan: Players take knee to support Black Lives Matter movement

It is an electrifying atmosphere as India and Pakistan clash in the Super 12 stage of the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup. Meanwhile, the players decided to take the knee in support of the BLM movement.

The ICC T20 World Cup 2021 just got electrifying, as arch-rivals India and Pakistan are colliding in their Group 2's Super 12 stage at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. The two sides clash for the sixth time in the tournament, while India has a historic 5-0 advantage over its neighbouring rival.

Pakistan won the toss and opted to bowl. Meanwhile, just before the first ball of the match was bowled, the players decided to take the knee, voicing their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. However, the Pakistanis chose to place their hands on their heart rather than taking the knee, as opener Rohit Sharma was seen having a conversation with Pakistan skipper Babar Azam before taking a call on how they would proceed.

The BLM movement has been famous around the globe since last year and has been widely followed across sports, while it was the first time that India did so in cricket. India is off to a shaky start in the game, losing a couple of wickets in the form of opener Rohit Sharma (0), KL Rahul (3) and Suryakumar Yadav (11) to pacers Shaheen Afridi and Hasan Ali by the third over. India is 36/3 at the end of the Powerplay.

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Playing XI
India: Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli(c), Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Varun Chakravarthy and Jasprit Bumrah.
Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi.