The play was put to halt twice in Delhi’s Feroz Shah Kotla. (Source: Express Photo by Praveen Khanna)
India skipper Virat Kohli smashed career best 243 in New Delhi during the first innings of third Test against Sri Lanka. But Kohli’s record double ton was overshadowed by Delhi’s smog which caused numerous interruptions in the day’s play. The visitors were not comfortable to play in these conditions and even sported masks in the afternoon session. The interruptions forced Kohli to declare the innings early and invited the visitors to bat. At the post-match presser Sri Lanka coach Nic Pothas defined the situation as “unique case” and insisted that the pollution level in the capital was pretty high.
“It’s well documented that Delhi has high level of pollution,” Sri Lanka coach Nic Pothas said, calling it a “unique case”. “At one point, we had a case of coming off the field vomiting. There were oxygen things in the change room. It’s not normal for players to suffer that way,” he added.
The play saw the stoppage twice, first for 17 minutes while the second was for five minutes. Moreover, pace bowler Lahiru Gamage left the field finding it difficult to breathe and his collegue Suranga Lakmal followed Gamage after sometime. Mentioning about the same, Pothas said that the Sri Lankan team management wanted to have some clarity on the safety of the players.
“We are here to play cricket… there was not a case of us wanting to stop. We just wanted to have some clarity on the safety of the players,” the South African said. “When it became unsafe, I think that’s where the conversation started because the safety of the players is of paramount importance,” said Pothas.
Sri Lanka later ended the second day’s play at 3/131 in reply to India’s 7/536 (d) with Angelo Mathews and captain Dinesh Chandimal at the crease.
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