Delhi and the other parts of the National Captial Region (NCR) have seen a huge increase in air pollution after Diwali. The Air Quality Index (AQI) has been in the ‘severe’ category for the last few days and the PM 2.5 level has spiked by nearly five times.

Amidst the pollution, the Indian cricket team are scheduled to play a Twenty-20 International (T20I), first of the three-match series, against Bangladesh on November 3. Concerns have been raised from various corners asking the match to be shifted to a different venue.

Ravichandra Ashwin, too, expressed his concern over deteriorating air quality in the capital. Taking to his official Twitter account, the Indian spinner wrote, “The quality of air in Delhi is really scary, the oxygen we breathe is the basic requisite for mankind on this planet. This indeed is emergency. #AirQualityIndex #pollution”

The quality of air in Delhi is really scary, the oxygen we breathe is the basic requisite for mankind on this planet. This indeed is emergency. #AirQualityIndex #pollution

— Ashwin Ravichandran (@ashwinravi99) November 2, 2019

Earlier on Tuesday, two environmentalists Jyoti Pande and Ravina Raj Kohli had written to BCCI President Sourav Ganguly to relocate the match between India and Bangladesh.

“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,” they were quoted as writing by PTI.

Cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir had also raised the issue. “It (air pollution) is a far serious issue than having a game of cricket or any other sport matches happening in Delhi. For us I think people living in Delhi should be more concerned about the pollution levels rather than the cricket match that happens,” Gambhir was quoted as saying to ANI.

After the first T20I, India and Bangladesh will travel to Rajkot for the second match on November 7. The last and final T20I of the series will be played in Nagpur on 10th November.

The teams will then move to Indore for the first game of the two-Test series to be held between November 14 and 18. Following that, the focus would be shifted to Kolkata for the historic Day-Night Test from 22nd November.