NEW DELHI: After a lot of trash talk from various worthies in the BCCI and its periphery about the supposed “lack of fight” put up by the visiting Sri Lankans in the face of the capital’s infamous pollution, the Indian cricket board seems to have belatedly seen reason.
It now says it would need to ‘consider’ scheduling of matches in the capital in future after the visiting Sri Lankans complained of poor air quality during the ongoing third Test against India.
Play had to be stopped on Sunday on three occasions and the Sri Lankan team wore anti-pollution masks, complaining of breathing problems at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
Sri Lankan interim coach Nic Pothas had also pointed out that match referee David Boon had seen Suranga Lakmal and Dhananjaya De Silva vomiting when he paid a visit to the team’s dressing room.
BCCI acting president CK Khanna had this to say at the time: “If 20,000 people in the stands did not have problem and the Indian team did not face any issue, I wonder why Sri Lankan team made a big fuss. I will need to talk to the secretary and ask him to write to the Sri Lanka Cricket.”
Echoing their master’s voice in making light of the situation were a number of former cricketers turned commentators on the BCCI’s payroll.
However, the board’s acting secretary Amitabh Chaudhary has now acknowledged, “Scheduling of matches in Delhi during this time of the year will be considered.”
“Pollution has been spoken about for years, but not just in one walk of life. These are sensitive matters, and there are agencies and structures that deal with this. Scheduling of matches in Delhi during this time of the year will be considered. We do check the weather before hosting matches in places like Delhi, the NCR, and western UP,” Chaudhary has been quoted by Indian Express as saying.
