After the Delhi T20I, India and Bangladesh will travel to Rajkot for the second match on November 7 before moving to Nagpur for the final game on 10th.
Sourav Ganguly file image. (Photo by Punit PARANJPE / AFP)
The newly-elected BCCI President Sourav Ganguly has confirmed, on Thursday, that the first Twenty-20 International (T20I) of the three-match series against Bangladesh in Delhi will go ahead as planned on November 3.
According to an ANI report, on being asked if the match will take place in Delhi at a time when many has been urging the BCCI to shift it because of the poor air quality in the capital, Ganguly replied, “Yes it will.”
Post-Diwali, the air quality in Delhi has continued to deteriorate and has slipped into the “severe” category in various parts of the National Captial Region (NCR).
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This has led to many asking the board to shift the match to a different city. Two environmentalists, namely, Jyoti Pande and Ravina Raj Kohli had written an application to Ganguly asking him to move the match outside Delhi.
They stated that playing a physically demanding sport for 3-4 hours in Delhi’s toxic air could do damage to the players’ health in the long run. The spectators, they said, would also be at risk in the prevailing situation.
The environmentalists further explained outdoor activities increase the respiration rate of the human body and thus higher levels of toxins are deposited into our lungs and organs.
“This puts our sportspersons at even greater risk when they play outdoors. Any match played outdoors harms the health and very lives of the players and it is irresponsible to schedule such sporting activities during times of such toxic air quality,” they were quoted as writing by PTI.
After the first T20I, India and Bangladesh will travel to Rajkot for the second match on November 7. The last and final T20I of the series will be played in Nagpur on 10th November.
The teams will then move to Indore for the first game of the two-Test series to be held between November 14 and 18. Following that, the focus would be shifted to Kolkata for the historic Day-Night Test from 22nd November.
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