India vs Sri Lanka: Sunday’s play descended into a farce due to visitors’ shenanigans not air quality
Out of his 243 runs, India skipper Kohli scored 100 in boundaries, thus running the remainder 143 runs. Did his lungs not breathe the same air or were they made of plastic?
Think winter in Delhi, and the thought of foggy, moisture-laden mornings come to mind. On days such as these, all you want to do is curl up in your quilt and get some hot coffee. Of course, when the sun comes out, most wannabe cricketers in this city come out to play, for what else would you do on a wintry Sunday.
This, however, is not the scenario in present-day Delhi. Today, we live in a gas chamber that gets worse every year because the menace of crop burning throughout North India goes unchecked. So far the authorities have let this situation get out of control as was witnessed in November not long back.
Sri Lanka's players, wearing anti-pollution masks, speak to each other on Sunday. AP
Maybe, the powers that be will wake up and find a solution after images of Sri Lankan cricketers wearing facemasks adorn all media outlets on Monday morning, if they haven’t already been splashed everywhere. It was an unprecedented sight in Test cricket — the entire Lankan team walking onto the field post-lunch wearing masks, as they felt suffocated and breathless on a depressing Sunday afternoon in Delhi.
They fielded, with masks on, as Virat Kohli continued to make merry with the bat. He is an unstoppable force right now, and his form will find its truest test when the overseas cycle begins soon enough. However, this session of play wasn’t just about cricket anymore. Suddenly, there was more to those facemasks and the players adorning them.
It began with Lahiru Gamage complaining of breathlessness. He went off the field, and reportedly suffered several bouts of vomiting. Dinesh Chandimal had a long and animated discussion with the umpires, and his mood was as grey as this afternoon had turned given a lack of wind and cloudy skies above. Weather conditions didn’t help the situation of course, but was it getting out of hand?
Soon after Suranga Lakmal also pulled up. Even as Chandimal engaged with the umpires and the Sri Lankan support staff began repeatedly encroaching on the field of play, you began to wonder — was this just an easy excuse?
The mere fact that Sri Lankan coach Nic Pothas and team manager Asanka Gurusinha had tried to impress their opinions on the umpires gave this a ludicrous colour. That Indian coach Ravi Shastri had to walk on the field in a huff and ask the umpires to get a move on showcased the home team’s growing frustration. “Virat Kohli batted for two days. He didn’t need any masks,” said bowling coach Bharat Arun after the day’s play.
Fast bowling isn’t easy they say, and certainly not when your bowling has been ground down to a pulp. Better bowlers than Gamage and Lakmal have lost inspiration when a batsman equal to Kohli’s class has worn them down. So, is batting any easier? If the air is moisture-laden and too heavy to breathe, does it impact someone who is running between the wickets lesser than someone who is running in to bowl?
Out of his 243 runs, Kohli scored 100 in boundaries, thus running the remainder 143 runs. Did his lungs not breathe the same air or were they made of plastic? Or, is he simply fitter and better equipped to deal with such a unique situation without any fuss. “No, our players are all medically fit and didn’t complain on Saturday evening. Maybe the air was better yesterday evening,” quipped Sri Lankan coach Pothas after the day’s play.
It still didn’t take away from the fact that the proceedings had descended into a complete mockery. The last time umpire Nigel Llong gesticulated so much was when he asked Steve Smith to walk back after his ‘brainfade’ moment in Bengaluru. Here he was, waving his arms time and again, asking the Sri Lankan medical staff to leave the field and let play carry on.
“Our players were vomiting. We had only ten players on the field. There were even oxygen cylinders in the dressing room. It was an abnormal situation and there are no rules regarding pollution,” said Pothas.
His last sentence needs to be underlined herein. On the face of it, Sri Lanka did nothing wrong. Pothas is right — there is nothing in the ICC or MCC rulebook about air pollution impacting cricket. Yet, rules do allow for medical assistance if players so need. There are also rules about substitution and players going off. And it only adds to the comical sight of two members of Sri Lanka’s support staff getting ready in whites to come on and field.
It doesn’t satisfactorily answer the obvious question though — did Sri Lanka want to halt play and go off the field? They clearly couldn’t continue with ten players, and the sight of their support staff getting ready to field only coerced India’s decision to declare. Their repeated breaks in play also broke Kohli’s rhythm and his resolve to get to a triple maiden hundred.
There is a grave feeling of taking advantage of a situation and manipulating the outcome accordingly. There is the added drama of all Sri Lankan players walking onto the field in masks, while the umpires — as unused to this abnormal situation as them — didn’t wear masks or tried to walk of the field after stopping play. There is also the sight of a couple Sri Lankan players laughing off and joking around after India’s declaration, at a time when their teammates were gravely ill in the dressing room.
Can anyone — outside the Sri Lankan touring party — claim with absolute certainty that they didn’t want to bowl/field any further? No.
Furthermore, is Delhi’s air-quality situation grave? Yes.
In that light, it comes down to the best witnesses of this entire drama — the Feroz Shah Kotla faithful. They booed when Sri Lanka happily came out to bat after the Indian declaration. And they were right to do so of course, for these people too braved the same environmental dangers as faced by the players, yet continued to brave them for the love of this sport.
The Sunday crowd in Delhi had come to witness a special triple hundred on home soil. Instead, they saw Test cricket descending into another farce it didn’t need.
Published Date: Dec 03, 2017
| Updated Date: Dec 03, 2017
Think winter in Delhi, and the thought of foggy, moisture-laden mornings come to mind. On days such as these, all you want to do is curl up in your quilt and get some hot coffee. Of course, when the sun comes out, most wannabe cricketers in this city come out to play, for what else would you do on a wintry Sunday.
This, however, is not the scenario in present-day Delhi. Today, we live in a gas chamber that gets worse every year because the menace of crop burning throughout North India goes unchecked. So far the authorities have let this situation get out of control as was witnessed in November not long back.
Sri Lanka's players, wearing anti-pollution masks, speak to each other on Sunday. AP
Maybe, the powers that be will wake up and find a solution after images of Sri Lankan cricketers wearing facemasks adorn all media outlets on Monday morning, if they haven’t already been splashed everywhere. It was an unprecedented sight in Test cricket — the entire Lankan team walking onto the field post-lunch wearing masks, as they felt suffocated and breathless on a depressing Sunday afternoon in Delhi.
They fielded, with masks on, as Virat Kohli continued to make merry with the bat. He is an unstoppable force right now, and his form will find its truest test when the overseas cycle begins soon enough. However, this session of play wasn’t just about cricket anymore. Suddenly, there was more to those facemasks and the players adorning them.
It began with Lahiru Gamage complaining of breathlessness. He went off the field, and reportedly suffered several bouts of vomiting. Dinesh Chandimal had a long and animated discussion with the umpires, and his mood was as grey as this afternoon had turned given a lack of wind and cloudy skies above. Weather conditions didn’t help the situation of course, but was it getting out of hand?
Soon after Suranga Lakmal also pulled up. Even as Chandimal engaged with the umpires and the Sri Lankan support staff began repeatedly encroaching on the field of play, you began to wonder — was this just an easy excuse?
The mere fact that Sri Lankan coach Nic Pothas and team manager Asanka Gurusinha had tried to impress their opinions on the umpires gave this a ludicrous colour. That Indian coach Ravi Shastri had to walk on the field in a huff and ask the umpires to get a move on showcased the home team’s growing frustration. “Virat Kohli batted for two days. He didn’t need any masks,” said bowling coach Bharat Arun after the day’s play.
Fast bowling isn’t easy they say, and certainly not when your bowling has been ground down to a pulp. Better bowlers than Gamage and Lakmal have lost inspiration when a batsman equal to Kohli’s class has worn them down. So, is batting any easier? If the air is moisture-laden and too heavy to breathe, does it impact someone who is running between the wickets lesser than someone who is running in to bowl?
Out of his 243 runs, Kohli scored 100 in boundaries, thus running the remainder 143 runs. Did his lungs not breathe the same air or were they made of plastic? Or, is he simply fitter and better equipped to deal with such a unique situation without any fuss. “No, our players are all medically fit and didn’t complain on Saturday evening. Maybe the air was better yesterday evening,” quipped Sri Lankan coach Pothas after the day’s play.
It still didn’t take away from the fact that the proceedings had descended into a complete mockery. The last time umpire Nigel Llong gesticulated so much was when he asked Steve Smith to walk back after his ‘brainfade’ moment in Bengaluru. Here he was, waving his arms time and again, asking the Sri Lankan medical staff to leave the field and let play carry on.
“Our players were vomiting. We had only ten players on the field. There were even oxygen cylinders in the dressing room. It was an abnormal situation and there are no rules regarding pollution,” said Pothas.
His last sentence needs to be underlined herein. On the face of it, Sri Lanka did nothing wrong. Pothas is right — there is nothing in the ICC or MCC rulebook about air pollution impacting cricket. Yet, rules do allow for medical assistance if players so need. There are also rules about substitution and players going off. And it only adds to the comical sight of two members of Sri Lanka’s support staff getting ready in whites to come on and field.
It doesn’t satisfactorily answer the obvious question though — did Sri Lanka want to halt play and go off the field? They clearly couldn’t continue with ten players, and the sight of their support staff getting ready to field only coerced India’s decision to declare. Their repeated breaks in play also broke Kohli’s rhythm and his resolve to get to a triple maiden hundred.
There is a grave feeling of taking advantage of a situation and manipulating the outcome accordingly. There is the added drama of all Sri Lankan players walking onto the field in masks, while the umpires — as unused to this abnormal situation as them — didn’t wear masks or tried to walk of the field after stopping play. There is also the sight of a couple Sri Lankan players laughing off and joking around after India’s declaration, at a time when their teammates were gravely ill in the dressing room.
Can anyone — outside the Sri Lankan touring party — claim with absolute certainty that they didn’t want to bowl/field any further? No.
Furthermore, is Delhi’s air-quality situation grave? Yes.
In that light, it comes down to the best witnesses of this entire drama — the Feroz Shah Kotla faithful. They booed when Sri Lanka happily came out to bat after the Indian declaration. And they were right to do so of course, for these people too braved the same environmental dangers as faced by the players, yet continued to brave them for the love of this sport.
The Sunday crowd in Delhi had come to witness a special triple hundred on home soil. Instead, they saw Test cricket descending into another farce it didn’t need.
Published Date:Dec 03, 2017
| Updated Date: Dec 03, 2017
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