Arvind Kejriwal, the chief minister of Delhi, is hopeful that pollution won’t become a hurdle in the first India vs Bangladesh T20I which is scheduled to be played in Delhi this Saturday.
A couple of years back when a test match was played in Delhi between India and Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan players had complained of having trouble in breathing and the game had to be halted for a long time. The visitors had to use air-masks while fielding.
The Kejriwal government has tried a few things to reduce the air pollution in Delhi and has done so with a little bit of success, but the pollution level has worsened again in the last 24 hours or so because of Diwali.
According to Kejriwal, the air pollution in Delhi this Diwali was lower in comparison to the past few years because people showed maturity and cut down on the no. of crackers they usually burst.
Delhi’s Air Quality Index (AQI) is, however, 323 at the moment which is still poor. For the air to be good and healthy, the AQI needs to be below the mark of 50 and Delhi’s AQI is nowhere close if compared to that.
But, Kejriwal insists there haven’t been any issues when the domestic cricket has taken place in Delhi this year.
“Matches have been played earlier this season as well. Match should be played in Delhi.”, Kejiwal was quoted saying by India Today.
“I hope that pollution will not come in the way of cricket.” the Delhi CM added.
This will be the first international match in Delhi after the change of the name of the stadium. The international stadium in Delhi was earlier called the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground, but recently it was named after the late former finance minister of India, Mr. Arun Jaitley.
