While the gloom of pollution hangs over the upcoming first T20I between India and Bangladesh in Delhi on November 3, with the air quality level in the capital city plunging into hazardous levels, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is hopeful that the match will not be affected by it. While admitting that better planning is needed when it comes to scheduling matches at certain venues in North India, Ganguly said the current schedule cannot be tinkered with.
“It’s too late to do anything, because a lot of preparations go into matches, tickets, crowds and everything, so it’s not possible to cancel things at the last minute. Fingers crossed. I hope the match gets through. I spoke to the DDCA and they are confident to get through it,” said Ganguly, who spoke to reporters at Eden Gardens on Thursday (October 31).
“I know post-Diwali it’s a bit tough in the North. As I said fingers crossed. It’s too late to change. I hope everything goes fine. I spoke to the groundsmen he says once the sun comes out, it’ll be fine. He was my groundsman in Delhi Capitals. I know him well so he said everything will be fine. So fingers crossed. We want the game to happen,” he said.
Back in December 2017, when Sri Lanka faced India in a Test match in Delhi, high pollution levels forced the game to be halted on several occasions. Several Sri Lankan players complained of breathing difficulty, with some of them taking the field sporting masks. A couple of them even vomited while some needed a supply of oxygen during the second day’s play of the Delhi Test. In November 2016, a Ranji Trophy game between Gujarat and Bengal was abandoned due to high pollution levels.
“Delhi should be worried about the contamination levels rather than the cricket match that happens. Not only players, it’s also for the common people of the capital city as well. A match is a very small thing, I think we can say whether we want to shift the match or not. ,” Gambhir told IANS.
“Yeah, yeah, I think we will do that (consultation),” said Ganguly when asked if the BCCI would work on the scheduling issues. “In the future when we schedule – especially in the northern part of India during the winter – we will have to be a little bit more practical. But we have spoken to the Delhi authorities in the last two days. They’re expecting the match to go through.
“The match was already scheduled so we couldn’t cancel it at the last minute because we came in on October 23. I hope it goes through but post-Diwali is a bit of a difficult time in the North because the winter comes in, there’s a lot of smoke and dust and everything,” Ganguly said.
