Team India sports special cap as a tribute to Armed forces | Video
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Ranchi: Indian cricketers wore army camouflage-style caps in the third One-Day International (ODI) against Australia here on Friday in solidarity with the CRPF men killed in a militant attack by a Pakistan-based group and in an unusually strong display of patriotic fervour in sport.
The suicide bombing on February 14 killed at least 40 CRPF personnel at Pulwama in Kashmir. The attack prompted India to launch an air strike inside Pakistan, which responded with an aerial attack the next day.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has in recent days tried unsuccessfully to isolate Pakistan in the cricketing world. The International Cricket Council rejected India's calls to boycott games against Pakistan, whose prime minister is former cricketing hero Imran Khan.But there are still calls within India for the national team to pull out of a World Cup match against Pakistan in June in England.
The idea to sport the olive-and-black caps bearing the BCCI's logo came from former Indian cricket captain and current player Mahendra Singh Dhoni, one of the game's biggest stars and an honorary lieutenant colonel with the Indian army.
"It's a special cap," Indian captain Virat Kohli said at the toss. "This is to pay respect to the martyrs ... and their families."
He said all the players would donate their fees from the match to the National Defence Fund to help out the families of defence personnel who die on duty. Kohli also urged all Indians to contribute to the fund.
The BCCI posted a clip on Twitter of commentators for the match also wearing the caps, signing off the tweet with "#JaiHind", or "Hail India".
The board has scrapped the opening ceremony for the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament, which begins on March 23, and will donate the money saved to the families of those who died in the bomb attack.
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