The Indian men’s cricket team are wearing the black armband in their first ODI against the West Indies to condole the demise of legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar. They also observed a minute’s silence to honour her memory just before the start of the play.
The Rohit Sharma led team are playing India's 1000th men's ODI at the Narendra Modi Stadium.
“The Indian Cricket Team is wearing black armbands today to pay their respects to Bharat Ratna Smt. Lata Mangeshkar ji who left for her heavenly abode on Sunday morning. The queen of melody, Lata didi loved cricket, always supported the game and backed Team India,” the BCCI tweeted on Sunday.
The legendary singer breathed her last on Sunday, aged 92 in Mumbai. She had been admitted to Mumbai's Breach Candy hospital on 8 January after she was diagnosed with COVID-19 and pneumonia. Though she recovered from COVID, the singer was put on ventilator support after her condition worsened on Saturday.
Two-day national mourning will be observed in memory of Lata Mangeshkar. The national flag will also fly at half-mast for two days, as a mark of respect, and she will be given a State funeral.
Dr Pratit Samdani, who was treating Lata Mangeshkar at Mumbai's Breach Candy Hospital, said today, "It is with profound grief that we announce the sad demise of Lata Mangeshkar at 8:12 am. She has died because of multi-organ failure after more than 28 days of hospitalisation post-COVID-19."
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