00:00All right, for cricket fans, let's begin with the latest news break that is coming in.
00:10The toss seems to have been delayed in the India-South Africa match in Lucknow because of smog.
00:16Indian player Hardik Pandya, seen wearing a mask, the toss originally scheduled to take place at 6.30pm, has now been delayed.
00:23The inspection will take place at 7.30pm.
00:27Embarrassing where India is concerned, Lucknow was supposed to be the destination for India-South Africa match.
00:37And now it seems because of smog, which is a heavy duty layer because it's winters right now.
00:45What you see on your television screens is Hardik Pandya who's come out onto the cricketing pitch with a mask.
00:51The next inspection will take place at 7.30pm.
00:54The reason for the delay in the toss is because there is smog.
01:00I want to cut across to my colleague Nikhil Naas who's joining us for more.
01:03Nikhil, it's pretty much be a first where smog is the reason for the delay of toss.
01:077.30 is going to be another inspection.
01:09What are you hearing?
01:11Preeti, you know, I would have been happier had it been the first time that something like this has happened.
01:17Unfortunately, not because my memory goes back to a few years ago, right here in Delhi, at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
01:25You had an India-Srilanka game where that game was called off because of pollution.
01:31You had a scenario where Sri Lankan players complained of nausea.
01:36They complained of their eyes burning.
01:38And that was quite an embarrassment for India that a game had to be called off because of poor air.
01:44This game seems to be going down that road.
01:46Even though we've not had the visiting team, the South African team, complaining about the AQI.
01:53But I've just done a quick check of the AQI levels in Lafayette and they are hovering around 500 mark, which is hazardous.
02:01The word that we've got, the official word that we've got from the BCCI, that the toss has been delayed because of fog.
02:08But that's a terminology that's often used and which is sometimes misrepresented.
02:13Because in north of India at this time of the year, you seldom get fog, you get smog, which is a mixture of, of course, smoke as well as fog.
02:21So it is smog that has caused the toss to be delayed.
02:25It's already delayed by one hour.
02:26But, you know, looking at how things really pan out, if they expect things to really clear out and the match to go ahead, I doubt that's going to happen.
02:35Things might only get worse as the temperature dips even further into the night.
02:39So it seems unlikely that this game will carry on.
02:43But that image that you were just talking about, Preeti, of a Hardik Pandya, an Indian player wearing a mask and walking around,
02:49I think that is going to be spread across social media, across mainstream media.
02:53And that will, of course, bring in a lot of embarrassment to India per se.
02:57You know, Nikhil, sometimes I do feel embarrassment is necessary because what we have been debating over time is the sheer fact that it's only Delhi that suffers from pollution.
03:07What we are witnessing is going to be international embarrassment in Lucknow.
03:11And hopefully this will be the perfect storm that we needed for the issue for a pressing health emergency to actually be addressed,
03:21where now there is smog, which is, as Nikhil also pointed out, it's smoke, it's pollution, it's a bit of fog because temperatures are low where Lucknow is concerned.
03:31I'm just, you know, looking at the AQI level in Lucknow and Nikhil was bang on, it's over 500.
03:38At least the AQI meters in Lucknow are working properly because in Delhi, you know, most of them aren't.
03:45But hugely embarrassing, Nikhil.
03:47But maybe that's the silver lining that India needed, that we need to address this health emergency at the earliest.
03:55Maybe a bit of international embarrassment is what it will take.
03:59Well, I would hope so.
04:03And that's me being very optimistic, Preeti.
04:06And I thought that the embarrassment that we had about four, five years ago in that incident that I speak about of the Sri Lankan team,
04:12that happened right here in the heart of the capital at the Ferocia Kotla.
04:15That game was called off because of poor air.
04:18And here you had a team that comes from a neighboring country.
04:22It wasn't even, you know, a European team or a team that's come from Australia, New Zealand that are used to much cleaner air.
04:28We had a neighboring country like Sri Lanka also.
04:30Players coming from there and saying that, listen, the air is unbearable at the moment.
04:34They actually completelyโฆ
04:35Nikhil, will you stay on with me?
04:36I'm going to just, you know, I'm cutting you short.
04:38But, you know, the reason I'm doing so is because I'm going to bring in my colleague Samarth Srivastava,
04:42who's joining us from the cricketing stadium.
04:44Samarth, you know, I'm looking at the AQI levels where Lucknow is concerned.
04:47And, you know, more or less, it seems to be hovering about 500 or so.
04:52But what are you picking up?
04:54Is this match going to take place at all?
04:56Because 7.30 is going to be a new round of inspection.
04:59But, you know, as the day progresses, the smog will only get thicker and hang lower.
05:05Preeti, you're right.
05:06It seems tough for the match tonight because we know that when the time will move on,
05:11we'll see the fog getting tougher with this particular time.
05:14It's not just about the fog, it's also about the smog.
05:17If you check the AQI level, the number, AQI, it's also high in Lucknow as well.
05:21And that's also the reason we see Hadik Pander wearing that particular mask in the visuals we can clearly see shared by the broadcasters.
05:26But a bigger picture out here is the fog situation.
05:29Current temperature is around 14, 15 degrees in Lucknow.
05:32But if you talk about the later hours, you'll see in the V hours the temperature will dip down and that will exceed the fog.
05:37We saw how two major accidents happened yesterday, one at the Purwanchal and one at the Agra Expressway.
05:44Samarth, can you tell us, I want to bring in, you're right there.
05:47So, you know, the fog is hanging low and it's smog there because the pollution levels are very high.
05:51Nikhil is also with us, Samarth.
05:53But what are you picking up?
05:54And Nikhil, you know, if you have an idea, who raised the issue of smog?
05:58You know, is there, you know, when a cricket match happens, is there a particular level that the air quality needs to be at?
06:05You know, how has this decision been taken?
06:07Have the teams complained?
06:08Nikhil, you know, do you have a word in on that?
06:11Yes, we do, Preeti.
06:12And that's not something that's going to be music to our ears because they actually did not take into consideration the air quality level.
06:20The reason that the toss was delayed was because of visibility.
06:24Now, this is where the umpires come in.
06:25As soon as they walk onto the field and they feel that the visibility levels are low,
06:29because remember, it's not just about the batters trying to spot the ball that comes out of the bowler's hand.
06:35And that's just coming from 22 yards.
06:37That's still possible.
06:38But there are going to be fielders in the deep and they will struggle to pick the ball.
06:41So this is, again, you know, part of the SOPs of cricket.
06:45As soon as the visibility dips, they've decided to push the toss back, you know, with some time.
06:50But I think what we're trying to do is go to the crux of the matter.
06:53That why is the visibility low?
06:54It's not just fog.
06:55It's smog.
06:56And then you see pictures of a Hardik Pandya walking around.
06:59I mean, you know, in a situation like this, Preeti, as you know, once it goes past 200, 300, you're not even advised to step out of your house.
07:06If the game does go on, would it be prudent to have athletes playing a sport?
07:11Imagine the kind of harm that it will do to athletes playing sport with an AQI in upwards of 500.
07:17And these are international athletes.
07:19Should you be risking them, getting them to play in such AQI?
07:22I think that's a bad idea.
07:23Well, that's a bad idea.
07:25But, Nikhil, you know, try saying that to, you know, parents who have young children are going out to play in the parks this evening, where Delhi and other big, you know, cities across the country is concerned.
07:35Thank you, Nikhil, for joining us.
07:36And we hope, you know, sometimes there's one picture which dominates the screen space and burns into public memory and hopefully highlights an emergency, a crisis that we are in right now.
07:49And maybe that picture on your television screen viewers would just be that trigger that we actually needed, which is a Hardik Pandya coming into the cricketing pitch with a mask on, that we desperately need to address our air emergency.
08:04And it is not just the national capital that is suffering.
08:08This is Lucknow due to smog, a heavy layer of smog, which has resulted in zero visibility.
08:15The match has been at least put off for an hour.
08:18The toss, 7.30 p.m., there's going to be a fresh inspection of the grounds.
08:22But we leave you with this image because this image will say a lot.
08:26And hopefully, you know, for someone who is as nation proud, but maybe we need a little bit of international embarrassment to address these pressing health emergency concerns that we're in the midst of.
08:38We're going to keep a keen eye on all developments there.
08:41We're going to keep an eye on all developments there.
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