BCCI President Sourav Ganguly on Thursday confirmed that the first India-Bangladesh T20I will go ahead as planned. This comes after some environmentalists requested Ganguly to consider moving the match outside Delhi due to concerns over air pollution.
“Yes, it will,” the BCCI president told ANI when asked if the match in Delhi will happen.
DDCA officials also confirmed to Hindustan Times that the match will go as per schedule. “Yes we heard about the letter but there has been no such communication from BCCI’s end. In fact, we have been told to carry on with preparations for Sunday’s match. The broadcasters are set to arrive tomorrow (Thursday),” a DDCA official told Hindustan Times.
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In the letter to Ganguly, Jyoti Pande of Care For Air and Ravina Raj Kohli of My Right To Breathe had said that making the “cricketers play a physically demanding sport for 3-4 hours in Delhi’s toxic air will end up doing more damage to our cricket team’s health in the long run,” according to PTI.
Spectators will also be putting themselves at risk to watch the match, the letter added.
Gautam Gambhir, meanwhile, said that pollution is a far serious issue than having a game of cricket or any other sports matches in Delhi. “I think people living in Delhi should be more concerned about the pollution levels rather than the cricket match that happens,” Gambhir told ANI.
“Not only athletes, it’s also for the common man of Delhi as well.” He further said that he is not really bothered whether the match will happen or not. “I hope it happens and it should happen, but again it’s the thing which is throughout the year that Delhi people face. It is far more concerning than match,” he added.
The first T20I between India and Bangladesh is scheduled to be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on 3 November.
(With PTI inputs)