Sarfaraz Khan and several other Mumbai players were forced to wear face masks during the Ranji Trophy match against Delhi. The opening day of the encounter saw Sarfaraz, his brother Musheer Khan and spinner Himanshu Singh sporting masks during the third and final session at the MCA-BKC Ground in Mumbai. According to news agency PTI, the air quality index (AQI) on Thursday hovered around 160, with conditions rated “unhealthy”. To make matters worse, construction was underway around the venue, making the conditions unbearable for the players.
Due to construction work right next to the venue for the Ranji Trophy tie, Mumbai players were forced to wear masks for 30 minutes while fielding. However, the trio removed it shortly after. Not just the players, even the members of the support staff, who were sitting on the sidelines, were also seen wearing masks.
After the close of play on the opening day, Mumbai pacer Mohit Avasthi explained that the players chose to wear face masks because they were having breathing issues due to construction work.
“There wasn’t any banter (about it), but new (building) construction work is being carried out here, and because of that, the players were feeling the pollution and having issues in breathing, so they put those on,” Avasthi was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.
According to the Times of India, Mumbai’s team management has also written to the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) about the ongoing construction activity near the Ranji Trophy match venue.
“Mumbai’s team management has written to the Mumbai Cricket Association about the problem of pollution due to the under-construction building here, which has led to a lot of dust and pollution on the ground. We’ve requested the MCA to take it up with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB). Players and members of the support staff sitting just outside the dressing room were also forced to wear masks. In fact, a few players of the Delhi team also requested us to give a few masks to them. Running on the ground can be difficult in such conditions,” a source in the Mumbai team told TOI.
State of play on the opening day
On the opening day of the Ranji Trophy contest between Mumbai and Delhi, the latter were bowled out for 221, with opener Sanat Sangwan scoring his third century of the season.
Sangwan eventually scored 118 off 218 balls, hitting 11 fours and two sixes. For Mumbai, Avasthi returned with a five-wicket haul. At stumps, the hosts were 13/1, with play called off five to seven minutes earlier due to poor light.
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