India vs Australia: Hosts to don camouflage caps as a tribute to armed forces

After two resounding victories in Hyderabad and Nagpur respectively, India are all set to play the third encounter of the series at the JSCA Stadium in Ranchi, which also happens to be MS Dhoni, the hosts’ wicketkeeper-batsman’s homeground. In the meantime, the home team, captained by Virat Kohli, is set to wear camouflaged caps in the third game of the series.

The same is in order to pay tribute to the Indian Armed Forces and the move has been decided upon by none other than Lt Col MS Dhoni, who’s with the Territorial Army. The 37-year-old Jharkhand-born Dhoni gave away the caps to his teammates prior to the beginning of the all-important encounter. A senior BCCI official talked about Dhoni’s love for the armed forces.

To me, today’s symbolic act depicting solidarity

“It’s fitting that the start of this annual event is being done at the home town of Lt. Col. Dhoni because it is not a superficial event but a sincere one. I for one will not be surprised if Dhoni ends up doing active service after he hangs his boots,” the official was quoted as saying in Economic Times.

“To me, today’s symbolic act depicting solidarity with the forces is more powerful than the one involving monetary donation by the BCCI. The idea is to pay tribute to the armed forces and their families. To encourage countrymen to donate to the National Defence Fund for taking care of the education of the dependants of the martyrs,” the official added.

“Dhoni will be presenting these caps to his team-mates and former India players in the support staff soon after the warm ups. These caps will also be given to former India players who are part of the commentary team,” the source remarked.

In the meantime, the BCCI also posted a video where Dhoni distributed the caps to the players. The post was captioned, paying tribute to the victims of the Pulwama Attack on Thursday, February 14 where 44 CRPF personnel lost their lives owing to a terror attack carried out by Pakistan-based terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Here’s the video of Dhoni giving away the caps

#TeamIndia will be sporting camouflage caps today as mark of tribute to the loss of lives in Pulwama terror attack and the armed forces

And to encourage countrymen to donate to the National Defence Fund for taking care of the education of the dependents of the martyrs #JaiHind pic.twitter.com/fvFxHG20vi

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 8, 2019

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