Bangladesh cricket team cancelled their scheduled practice session Friday in New Delhi as the air pollution rose to “severe category” in the Indian capital.
A sudden decline in the air quality has pushed the Delhi government to shut down all primary schools for the next two days.
Bangladesh travelled to Delhi from Kolkata last Wednesday after their sixth successive loss in the ongoing World Cup.
They had a rest day Thursday and a scheduled training session Friday afternoon.
But Friday morning, a Bangladesh Cricket Board press release confirmed that the team have canceled the scheduled training due to rise in air pollution as smoky and foggy conditions were clearly visible from morning to noon in Delhi.
“It’s definitely a big concern (pollution). The condition deteriorated than (Thursday) and that’s why we called off the practice (Friday). Few players had difficulties (Thursday) when they went outside from the hotel, and some of them even faced some coughing. Since there is a chance of getting sick in this kind of condition, we did not take the chance to practice (Friday) as we have two more days before the next game,” said team director Khaled Mahmud Sujon to the media in Delhi Friday.
“We want our players to be fully fit before the game against Sri Lanka as this match is important for us. We don’t know whether the condition will improve (Saturday) or not, if not then we have to adapt.”
According to reports in local media, Delhi's air quality deteriorated further Friday, November 3, breaching the 400 danger mark on a scale of 500 with Air Quality Index reaching alarming levels in several places.
When the AQI level goes above 400, it is considered severe.
In this kind of condition, the air pollution can affect healthy people and have a serious impact on those who have existing illnesses.
The report also says, government agencies have further warned that pollution levels could worsen in Delhi over the next 15-20 days due to a surge in farm fires along with expected drop in temperature and air speed.
Smoky haze blanketed the skyline of India’s national capital Thursday and Friday and it is being warned that the situation may continue for the next few days.
Bangladesh’s next opponents are Sri Lanka and the match will take place at Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium Monday.
With six losses in seven games Bangladesh are already out of contention for the semi-finals but the remaining two games, against Sri Lanka and Australia next Saturday in Pune, are very important as the Tigers still have a slight chance of securing a position in the 2025 Champions Trophy which will be held in Pakistan.
According to the International Cricket Council, the first seven teams in the points table after the group stage of the World Cup will qualify for the Champions Trophy, alongside hosts Pakistan .
Bangladesh are currently sitting at ninth with two points in the 10-team standings with England at the bottom having played one match less.
