00:00Alright, we have the latest news break coming in where the AQI is concerned of the national capital amidst worsening
00:07air in Delhi.
00:08The India versus Sri Lanka match has been postponed.
00:11First ODI between India and Sri Lanka, which was to be played on December 13th, has now been shifted from
00:18Delhi to Vishakhapatnal.
00:19The venue change has been made following a request from Delhi and District Cricket Association
00:25in view of the potential weather disruptions and the proposed renovation work at the stadium.
00:30Because one thing is clear that this is deeply embarrassing for Delhi and India
00:35where we have to shift cricket matches now to different cities or even countries
00:40because we cannot deal with our AQI levels.
00:43I want to quickly bring in my colleague Nitin Srivastava who is joining in with the very latest on this
00:49news break.
00:50Nitin, what more can you add?
00:51Well, there was a request from DDCA to shift the first ODI match between India and Sri Lanka
00:56which was actually planned and scheduled for 13th December in Delhi at the Arunjitli Stadium.
01:01But now BCCI has changed the venue from Delhi to Vizak and the DDCA in the letter clearly had mentioned
01:07that the stadium is going to, you know, under renovation and also in the month of December
01:11the weather will not be the same as we, you know, stand today.
01:14So, that is the, you know, major reason keeping in mind the pollution, you know, and the weather
01:19BCCI decided to move the venue from Delhi to Vizak.
01:23You know, in the history also we have seen a lot of cricket match being played in winter
01:28especially in December, January the matches were halted.
01:31Players complained, you know, about the weather.
01:34So, that was one of the major reasons why BCCI decided to move the venue from Delhi to Vizak.
01:41Alright, so the venue has been moved from Delhi to Vizak.
01:44But Nitin, this is not the first time that either a cricket match has been halted or suspended
01:51because of poor air quality.
01:54Well, absolutely.
01:55I clearly remember India, you know, Sri Lanka actually was playing at Arun Jetty Stadium.
01:59It was a test match between India and Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan players where they started complaining
02:03about the weather, you know, they met match referee and they complained about the weather.
02:08They said that they cannot actually continue to play in such conditions.
02:13So, for a few hours that test match was halted.
02:16Again, I remember Bangladesh was playing in India at the same very ground
02:19and they also complained to the empires and match referees that match was halted for a few hours.
02:25So, in winters, especially in December, January, because of the weather, because of the, you know,
02:32the pollution, players actually have made a lot of, you know, complaints to, you know, the hosting body.
02:38But BCCI, they had opted to move the game, especially this game, which is actually scheduled for 13th of December.
02:47But BCCI, after getting that letter from DDCA, they decided it's actually good to take a move.
02:52And this match has been moved from Delhi to Vishakhapatra.
02:56All right, Nitin, thank you for joining us with the latest updates.
02:59This is deeply embarrassing, coming in where the national capital cannot host, the capital of the country,
03:05cannot host a sporting event because we haven't been able to fix our air quality index.
03:12Thank you, Nitin.
