Mumbai vs Delhi, Ranji Trophy Updates: Sarfaraz Khan and a few other Mumbai players were seen wearing masks during their Ranji Trophy match against Delhi at the BKC Academy, which kicked off on Thursday, January 29. Sarfaraz, his brother Musheer Khan and spinner Himanshu Singh had their masks on during the third and final session of the opening day.
According to a PTI report, the air quality index (AQI) at the venue was around 160, at the venue and the conditions were rated "unhealthy". To make the situation more uncomfortable for the players, construction was underway around the venue. 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.
At the end of the first day's play, Mumbai pacer Mohit Avasthi talked about the situation, mentioning that the players decided to wear marks 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 by PTI as saying.
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As per a Times of India report, Mumbai's team management was quick to write to the Mumbai Cricket Association(MCA) about the construction activity near the Ranji Trophy match venue.
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"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 them a few masks. Running on the ground can be difficult in such conditions," TOI quoted a source in the Mumbai team as saying.
Talking about the match, Delhi produced a disappointing effort after being put into bat as they were bowled out for just 221 runs in their first innings. Sanat Sangwan smashed the century, but no other batter could make a big impact. Sanat scored 118 runs on the back of 11 fours and a couple of sixes.