BCCI president Sourav Ganguly thanked India captain Rohit Sharma and Bangladesh team for braving the extreme conditions in New Delhi and putting up a good show at the Arun Jaitely Stadium in front of a 25,000 strong crowd on Sunday.
“Thank u to both the teams to play this game @ImRo45 @BCBtigers under tough conditions .. well done bangladesh,” the former India captain wrote on Twitter.
Pollution levels turned hazardous during the past week, putting the match in danger of being called off, but the BCCI felt it was too late to change the venue.
Concentrations of particles measuring less than 2.5 microns hit the highest level of this season, exacerbated by light rains late Saturday, India’s state-run System of Air Quality Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) said.
The reading for pollutants in the atmosphere hit 810 micrograms per cubic metre Sunday morning, beyond the “hazardous” zone according to the US embassy in Delhi, which independently monitors pollution levels.
The recommended World Health Organisation safe daily maximum is 25.
Cricket-crazy fans seemed to have ignored health warnings from government agencies as a near-capacity crowd turned out to watch the first match of the series.
In December 2017, two players from Sri Lanka fell ill on the pitch because of smog and play in the Test match was briefly suspended.
Every winter, the megacity of 20 million people is blanketed by a poisonous smog of car fumes, industrial emissions, and smoke from stubble burning at farms in neighbouring states.
Put in to bat, India managed 148/6 as they lost wickets at regular intervals during the course of their allotted 20 overs on a sticky surface in the smog-hit series opener at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Sunday. Then Mushfiqur Rahim single-handedly helped Bangladesh chase down 149 with an unbeaten 60 as they registered their first-ever T20I win over India.
“148 was a good score. We would have defended it if we were smart on the field. A couple of decisions we did not get it right on the field and that went against us. That’s where we lacked in decision making,” Rohit said while speaking at the post-match press conference.
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