As India and Bangladesh are set to lock horns in the first T20I of the three-match series, the national capital continues to gasp for breath as air quality in Delhi and adjoining areas continued to dip on Sunday.
The air quality in the national capital worsened today and plummeted to ‘hazardous’ category. The visibility also dropped significantly as a thick blanket of smog engulfed several parts of the city.
Notably, for the first time in this season, the Air Quality Index (AQI) docked as high as 625 at 10 in the morning despite light drizzles in the early hours.
Due to low visibility, flight operations at Delhi Airport also got affected.
Bangladesh coach Russell Domingo on Friday said that the dipping levels of air quality in Delhi is not ideal but the team needs to get on with it.
“It is not too hot, it is not perfect with all the smog around. But it’s the same for both teams, it is not perfect, it is not ideal. But there’s nothing to complain about, we need to get on with it and make best do’s we can. It is not ideal, it is not something you would want,” Domingo had told reporters.
“But there is nothing we can do about it. We have to make sure we prepare and deal with it. We have had little scratchy eyes and sore throat, but no one has been sick yet. We have to play three hours of the game, and we are having three hours practice session and probably this is the maximum amount of time you would want to spend in such a situation,” he added.
Since the arrival of the Bangla Tigers in Delhi, the players and coaching staff were seen wearing masks during practice sessions.
India’s squad for T20I series against Bangladesh: Rohit Sharma(c), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Rishabh Pant (wk), Washington Sundar, Krunal Pandya, Yuzvendra Chahal, Rahul Chahar, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shivam Dube, and Shardul Thakur.
Bangladesh T20I Squad: Mahmudullah (c), Litton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Naim Sheikh, Mushfiqur Rahim, Md Mithun, Afif Hossain, Musaddek Hossain Saikat, Aminul Islam Biplob, Arafat Sunny, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Abu Hider Rony, and Al Amin Hossain.
Later in the day, the first T20I between Indian and Bangladesh will be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium at 7 pm.