New Delhi: Players from the Indian and Australia team observed a minute’s silence to pay tribute to deceased Victorian teenage cricketer Ben Austin ahead
of the start of MCG T20I. Both the sides play the second match of the five-game series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday and as a mark of respect, they paid their tribute by observing silence.
17-year-old Austin lost his life after being hit by a ball on the neck during a practice session. The ball was thrown using a handheld ball launcher and as soon as he was hit, he had to be rushed to a hospital where he was put on life support.
Despite the medical care, Austin, who was budding cricketer, lost his life. Entire cricketing fraternity mourned the loss of the young ball who sadly passed away while following his passion. Meanwhile, apart from observing silence, players from both the teams are also wearing black armbands as a mark of respect for the budding cricketer who died tragically.
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A minute of silence was observed at the MCG following the tragic passing of Ben Austin ❤️ pic.twitter.com/xly79nAgcg
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 31, 2025
Meanwhile, India lost the toss once again as Australia invited the visitors to bat first in the game which is touted to be a splendor. India are playing an unchanged XI in the match while for Australia, Short comes in for Philippe. Both the sides would be aiming to take an early advantage in the series by winning the game on October 31.
At the time of writing this report, India had lost three wickets inside the powerplay with Shubman Gill, Sanu Samson and skipper Suryakumar Yadav being sent back to the pavilion. Abhishek Sharma was solidly placed on 24 off just 9 balls.
