Liton Das wearing a mask during nets. (Source: Twitter)
As the furore surrounding the venue of first T20I between India and Bangladesh in New Delhi continues to rage, Bangladesh batsman Liton Das was spotted training with a face mask on Thursday.
Das, who was a part of his team’s first training session at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, had a light session but his appearance has raised many eyebrows.
Downplaying them, India’s stand-in captain Rohit Sharma on Thursday said he doesn’t expect any pollution-related problem to affect the match.
Although the air quality in the National Capital Region (NCR) has been hovering in the “severe” category for a good part of the week, earlier, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly confirmed that the match will go ahead as planned.
Delhi: Bangladesh cricket team practices at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, ahead of the 1st T20i against India on November 3. #IndvsBan pic.twitter.com/yDXVixZgDj
— ANI (@ANI) October 31, 2019
Now, Rohit has also backed the game to continue in Delhi, shunning the questions raised by environmentalists and cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir.
“I have just landed and haven’t had time to assess. As far as I know, the game is to be played on November 3 and will be played,” said Rohit, who will lead the side in the three-match series in the absence of a rested Virat Kohli.
Referring to the 2017 match in New Delhi where Sri Lankan players wore face masks during the third Test where play was halted for 20 minutes for haze, he said, “We didn’t have any problem when we played the Test match here (against Sri Lanka). We are not aware of the exact discussion and I haven’t had any problem.”
Although the Bangladesh batsman, Das was seen wearing a face mask during field training for about 10 minutes, he didn’t wear one when he batted at the nets. Moreover, no other Bangladeshi player was seen wearing the mask even though a thick layer of smog could be seen at Kotla.
Former cricketer turned politician Gautam Gambhir on Wednesday had also said that pollution is a bigger concern than a cricket match, as “people living in Delhi should be more concerned about the pollution levels.”
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