India vs Australia | Team India wears camouflaged caps in Ranchi as tribute to armed forces

The BCCI has decided that there will be one ODI match every year in which the Indian team will wear camouflaged caps as a tribute to the Indian armed forces. As per a BCCI official, it was MS Dhoni, who is with the territorial army, and skipper Virat Kohli who first gave the idea and the BCCI has decided to start it from the third ODI in Ranchi, the home town of Dhoni.

"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. To me, today's symbolic act depicting solidarity with the forces is more powerful than the one involving monetary donation by the BCCI," a BCCI official told IANS.

"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 dependents of the martyrs. 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."

BCCI sources have notified IANS that Dhoni and Kohli worked with BCCI’s apparel partner Nike to get a proper design of the caps.

"They have been working closely with our apparel partner Nike for the past six months with inputs in the design and proposed implementation of the initiative," the official added.

Just before the toss for the third ODI against Australia, the Indian wicketkeeper was seen presenting the caps to the players while they were warming up at the JSCA Cricket Stadium, Ranchi. Kohli also said at the toss that the members of the Indian team are donating their match fees of today's game to the martyrs' families.

"This is a special cap, it's a tribute to the Armed forces. We're all donating our match fees of this game to the families of the martyrs," said Kohli.