India vs Australia: 7 Year Old Archie Schiller Named Australia's 'Co-Captain' For Boxing Day Test
Cricket Australia announced on Sunday that seven-year-old Archie Schiller will lead the hosts in the iconic Boxing Day Test against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Schiller, who suffers from a rare heart condition, will be co-captain alongside Tim Paine in the third Test against India starting on Wednesday. The leg-spinner, who turned seven on Saturday, from Adelaide is set to partner Nathan Lyon after his ascension to the leadership role. Schiller was named in Australia's squad for the Boxing Day Test last month.
He learned of his inclusion in the extended squad for the third Test via a phone call from coach Justin Langer.
Schiller, a fan of Nathan "Gary the Goat" Lyon, confidently told Langer that he can get India skipper Virat Kohli out at the MCG.
Schiller, who aspires to be a leg-spinner, trained with the Australian players in Adelaide ahead of the first Test and was given the team jersey.
"Obviously Arch has been through a really tough period and his family," Paine said.
"When his dad asked him what he wanted to do, he said 'I want to captain Australia'.
"I think it's been picked up along the way and we're rapt to have someone like that around. He adds a bit of perspective I think.
"Sometimes we live a life, it's very good, but you can be consumed in your own life at times, so to have someone like that around is actually really inspiring for our group.
"It's great to have him around and we look forward to his debut on Boxing Day."
Australia go into the third Test of the four match series on a high after their series-levelling victory at the Optus stadium in Perth.
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Vice president embarks on two-day visit to Sri Lanka
New Delhi (PTI): Vice President of India C P Radhakrishnan on Sunday left for Sri Lanka on a two-day official visit.
This marks the first bilateral visit by an Indian vice president to Sri Lanka, his office said.
During the visit, Radhakrishnan will call on the President of Sri Lanka Anura Kumara Disanayaka.
He will also meet the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Harini Amarasuriya, along with other dignitaries on April 19, an official statement said.
Radhakrishnan will interact with leaders of the Indian-origin Tamil community and Tamil leaders from the Northern and Eastern regions of Sri Lanka.
Later in the day, the vice president will address the Indian diaspora at a community event in Colombo, where he will virtually hand over houses to beneficiaries from Tamil communities, built with assistance from the Indian government as part of the third phase of the Indian Housing Project.
With this, the total number of houses for Tamil communities will reach 50,000, and 10,000 more houses are being built in the fourth phase of the project, the statement mentioned.
On April 20, the vice president will travel to Nuwara Eliya, visit the Indian Housing Projects, and interact with the local Tamil community.
This visit, which follows recent high-level engagements between the two countries, is expected to further strengthen the millennia-old civilisational and people-to-people ties between India and Sri Lanka, the statement said.
