Relieved Ganguly thanks players

New Delhi, November 4

BCCI president Sourav Ganguly has again acknowledged that conditions in Delhi are difficult to play cricket in due to pollution in this time of the year.

Shortly after the first T20I between India and Bangladesh was won by the visitors, Ganguly took to Twitter to thank the players. “Thank you to both the teams to play this game… under tough conditions. Well done Bangladesh,” Ganguly wrote, tagging the Twitter accounts of stand-in India captain Rohit Sharma and the Bangladesh Cricket Board.

The match was played less than a week after Diwali, and the timing was significant not merely due to the pollution caused by the bursting of firecrackers: This is also the time when immediately after the year’s most significant festival, farmers in the neighbouring states burn farm residue as they prepare to sow the next crops. The conditions are made worse by the cold climate, due to which dust and pollutant are trapped in the air.

Ganguly had suggested a few days ago that there would be a rethink on scheduling matches in northern India in the future. “But post-Diwali is a bit of a difficult time in the north because the winter comes in and (there is) a lot of smoke and dust and everything,” Ganguly said four days ago. “So, in the future when we schedule, especially the northern part of India in the winter, we’ll have to be a little bit more practical.”

Tough day

There were fears that the match may not be held as the air pollution levels in the city became very intense in the afternoon. Flights were diverted from the city, and schools were closed until November 5.

However, conditions improved by the time the match was to start, though there are reports that Soumya Sarkar vomited on the field during Bangladesh’s chase. “Personally, this air pollution is nothing for me,” Bangladesh hero Mushfiqur Rahim said after the match. “I was much more interested in which bowler I was facing. Playing against India in front of a big crowd isn’t something Bangladesh team gets every day. I think we have come to play our biggest bilateral series, so these things don’t matter.” — TNS