Why are Indian players wearing black armbands for today’s 2023 World Cup match against England?" 

Team India players are wearing black armbands during their 2023 World Cup match against England at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Rohit Sharma and company are wearing the black badge to mourn the demise of Indian cricket legend Bishan Singh Bedi. The former left-arm spinner passed away on Monday, October 23.

Confirming the same, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced on X (formerly known as Twitter):

"#TeamIndia will be wearing Black Armbands in memory of the legendary Bishan Singh Bedi before the start of play against England in the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023."

It is worth mentioning that Bishan Singh Bedi passed away due to a prolonged illness. He was regarded as one of the best Indian left-arm spinners to have played the game.

He played 67 Tests and bagged 266 wickets. He also featured in 10 ODIs and picked up seven wickets. The legendary spinner also captained India in 22 Test matches.

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England elect to field first in 2023 World Cup match vs India

Both India and England have endured contrasting campaigns in the ongoing showpiece event. Defending champions England have struggled to get going and are languishing at the bottom of the points table with just one win from five outings.

Rohit Sharma and company, on the other hand, are the only unbeaten team in the tournament at this stage. With five victories from as many appearances, India are second in the standings.

Jos Buttler won the toss for England and elected to field first. This will be the first time that India will bat first in the 2023 World Cup.

Here are the two playing XIs for the encounter:

India XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Suryakumar Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammed Siraj.

England XI: Jonny Bairstow, Dawid Malan, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler (wk/c), Liam Livingstone, Moeen Ali, Chris Woakes, David Willey, Adil Rashid, and Mark Wood.