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‘Money over safety’, cricket fans criticize BCCI for holding IND vs BAN T20I in Delhi amidst air pollution

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Bangladesh'a cricketers wearing face maks attend a practice session under heavy smog conditions at Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium in New Delhi on November 2, 2019, ahead of the first T20 international cricket match of a three-match series between Bangladesh and India. (Photo by STR / AFP)


At a time when the air pollution in Delhi seems to be turning worse with every passing day, the Indian cricket team will host Bangladesh at the Arun Jaitley Stadium for the first match of the Twenty-20 International (T20I).

However, concerns have been raised from various corners to shift the match from the capital city due to the toxic air quality. Two environmentalists, namely, Jyoti Pande and Ravina Raj Kohli had written an application to Ganguly asking him to move the match outside Delhi.

“Making our cricketers play a physically demanding sport for 3-4 hours in Delhi’s toxic air will end up doing more damage to our cricket team’s health in the long run.” the duo was quoted as writing by PTI.

Cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir had also expressed his discontent over the T20I. “No match or sporting event is bigger than the people of Delhi. I do not think any match should happen here in Delhi until the pollution level come under control. The biggest issue that is bothering the Delhites is about pollution,” the BJP lawmaker was quoted as saying by ANI

Former Indian cricketer Bishen Singh Bedi also echoed the same and Ravichandran Ashwin, too, labelled the conditions in the capital city as “scary”.

However, on Sunday the smog cover over the city thickened further and visibility became an issue as the Air Quality Index (AQI) increased rapidly. The PM 2.5 level has also spiked in the city by almost 5-6 times in the last few days.

Meanwhile, cricket fans in the country are not happy with how the BCCI handled the situation. Many criticised the board’s move to not relocate the match, while some even held the newly-elected President Sourav Ganguly directly responsible.

Here’s how the cricket fans are reacting:

Speaking to the press on Sunday, the BCCI chief had confirmed that the match would go ahead as planned which was followed with a nod from India’s stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma.

Ganguly had said, “They [Delhi District and Cricket Association (DDCA) authorities] are expecting the match to go through. It was already scheduled so we couldn’t cancel it at the last minute.”

“So, in the future when we schedule, especially the northern part of India in the winter, we’ll have to be a little bit more practical. But fingers crossed,” he added.

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