Bangladesh and Lanka cancel practice for toxic Delhi air

Agency :
The toxic cloud in New Delhi prompted Sri Lanka to abandon their Saturday training session, delaying their preparations for Monday’s World Cup match against Bangladesh in the extremely polluted Indian city.

On Friday, New Delhi topped a real-time list of the world’s most polluted cities compiled by Swiss organization IQAir, which rated the city’s air quality index (AQI) as “hazardous” at 640. Bangladesh have a training session scheduled at 6pm on Saturday, after choosing not to train on Friday because of the air pollution in Delhi.

“Due to worsening conditions, we didn’t take the chance.

We have two more training days. Some of us developed coughing, so there’s a risk factor.

We don’t want to get sick.

We don’t know if things will improve, but we have training tomorrow.

We want all the players to be fit for the important game coming up on November 6.”

Bangladesh’s team director Khaled Mahmud had said.

The governing body of Indian cricket (BCCI) has previously prohibited the usage of fireworks in post-match celebrations in New Delhi and Mumbai.

The International Cricket Council (ICC), which governs the sport, said it was following the situation in New Delhi.

“We are currently assessing the situation,” an ICC spokesperson said in a statement to Reuters.