Former India captain Sourav Ganguly said that seeing Sri Lankan players wear masks while fielding and not while batting, has forced him to raise questions over their attitude.
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly expressed his disappointment over the whole smog issue that took place during the second day of the third Test at the Feroz Shah Kotla in Delhi.
Ganguly said that he is worried about the whole issue and wonders if the visitors can actually compete with the hosts. The 45-year-old also added that India will win the match easily.
"Virat Kohli and the team management saw that the game is going away from their hands, they are losing time and they declared. Virat lost his concentration, the purpose of the game and got out. But when they (Sri Lanka) came out to bat, I didn't see any mask on all of those five batsmen who were at the crease. Nobody had the mask and if you look at the pavilion they were sitting in, there was no mask either. So, I don't know how everything changed in such a quick time. If Gamage and Lakmal were running it with a mask, even Angelo Mathews was running for ones and twos. It's the same thing. What surprised me is that they never complained, wore the mask or made a show off it. That's the worrying bit and I hope the intentions were not bad," Ganguly said.
"It will be an absolute mockery of Test cricket. India were dominating. India beat them at Nagpur, India will beat them here. But if you have to slow down a Test match progress like this, it's very sad for cricket. Sri Lanka have the history of producing some fantastic cricketers and great cricket. They have never beaten India (in India) since the time they have started playing Test cricket. Look at the records, whether it is Arjuna Ranatunga, Aravinda de Silva, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Muttiah Muralitharan, they still haven't beaten India. This is probably the weakest Sri Lankan team to tour India and to see this sort of a behaviour was not very good but I hope I am wrong," added Ganguly.
Former Bengal and India keeper Deep Dasgupta also echoed Ganguly's words and said that India will beat Sri Lanka by an innings.
"I don't think the mask wearing Sri Lankans will field again. India will win by an innings," said Deep.
Lahiru Gamage was the first one to complain about breathing issues and the play was halted for 16 minutes. India lost Ravichandran Ashwin immediately after play resumed the visitors came out wearing masks.
Gamage again called for the doctors and that led to Virat Kohli throwing his bat in frustration. The Indian captain soon fell for 243 and 
Ravindra Jadeja walked in. Suranga Lakmal also walked off soon after and Sri Lanka were reduced to 10 players on the field.
Sadeera Samarawickrama has been out of action due to an injury since Saturday. Play was again halted and the Sri Lankan coach Nic Pothas walked in to talk about the issue and explained that the visitors have less than 10 players on the field. After all that, the physio and fielding coach were getting ready to field.
However, all this angered Kohli it seemed and he was seen calling back Wriddhiman Saha and Jadeja and indicating that 'India will bowl, no problem', declaring the first innings at 536/7.
Innings break! India declare their innings on 536/7.
Updates - https://t.co/OKFOpkiBg9#INDvSLpic.twitter.com/jRzygy50g4
- BCCI (@BCCI) December 3, 2017
The interesting thing, however, was when Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Mathews came out to bat. They were not seen wearing anything on their face. Ganguly, therefore, questioned the attitude of the Sri Lankan cricketers.
"It's just that, the mask was on when they were fielding and no mask when they were batting, it has forced me to ask this question whether the Sri Lankan attitude was right or not."
Delhi in recent times has been notorious for having a high pollution level and hence the protection perhaps.
Strangely though, some players aren't covering their mouths and noses and are seen having the mask hanging on their necks. Rohit Sharma and Kuldeep Yadav were among the few Indian players who were also taking the refuge of a breathing mask.
The humidity on Sunday at 8.30 a.m. was recorded at 92 per cent.
Saturday's minimum temperature was 7.4 degrees Celsius, two notches below the season's average while the maximum temperature was recorded at 26.4 degrees Celsius.
Talking about the match and Kohli , Ganguly said that it's wonderful to see him play like this and he is making the most of his good form.
Back to back double 💯 for King Kohli #INDvSLpic.twitter.com/NDMmtzbs4W
- BCCI (@BCCI) December 3, 2017
"Remarkable. It has been a fantastic year for him. His performance in the last 17 months has been fantastic. Every cricketer goes through purple patch. I've seen 
Rahul Dravid go through it from 2001 to 2004, 
Sachin Tendulkar and other cricketers around world cricket have gone through this phrase. The best part of Virat Kohli is that he is making the most of it. When the time is good, he is in form, he doesn't let it go. Whatever is the attack, he just keeps making runs, he just worries about scoring runs and making big runs. That's a huge attribute to his cricketing aspect. There's no doubt about his ability, his performances," he said.
"He is just a great player...a modern day great. I never compare generations but he has been superb in the last 17 months in all formats of the game," he added.
