NEW DELHI: Three substitutes on the bench were sick and vomiting. One of their pacers couldn’t bowl anymore because he couldn’t breathe properly. A captain struggled to make on-field umpires understand the gravity of the situation.
A coach, who sympathised with the umpires and match officials, was saying that this was a “very, very, unique situation”. A decision never taken in 2,285 Tests was taken. Play in Delhi was stopped because of air pollution, a first such instance.
On the other side was a captain — possibly wanting to reach his maiden triple hundred in front of his home crowd — taking a guard in the second session, with fielders around him wearing masks.
He couldn’t understand the fuss, forgetting that one of his own had been carrying drinks wearing a mask.
With every player he was losing, the rival skipper was asking, “What next?”. Umpires Nigel Llong and Joel Wilson didn’t know what to do. Match referee David Boon had a long chat with a doctor, but didn’t know either.
The crowd now believed that this was a Lankan ploy. As another pacer gave up after bowling one ball, only nine players were left on the field. A physio and trainer donned whites and waited to come in, if the umpires allow them to do so.
But, sitting in the pavilion, the Indian camp wanted to send a message across. Their captain came and pointed to the batsmen in the middle as if to say, “Come in, we shall show them how to bowl in these conditions”.
Egging him on was the head coach, who had just a while back ran onto the field to urge the umpires – as per the bowling coach’s version — to “get on with the game.” There was tension in the air. The post-tea session calmed things down. At the end of the day, as Sri Lanka coach Nic Pothas put it, all his players wanted were assurances of safety.
“It is well-documented that Delhi has high levels of pollution. It got extremely high at one point. We had players coming in at one point to vomit. We wanted to play. We just wanted to have some clarity on the safety of players. You could see the two fast bowlers — theirs is an intense job — were struggling. When it becomes unsafe, that is when the conversation started. Safety of players is of paramount importance.”
The Indians, though, still seemed to believe none of this. Instead, bowling coach Bharathi Arun said the team was not even concerned about what was going on in the opposition camp, and only raised the issue because the team management felt it was unnecessary to stop play.
“It’s their lookout, their problem to keep their bowlers fit. I think pollution is everywhere in our country. These levels are serious in our country. I don’t think we were too worried about pollution. The umpires and match referee have a job at hand and it’s not up to players to go and protest… we just wanted to get on with the game because our focus is to win this match.” Winning may be everything. But it definitely isn’t when the opposition’s safety is at risk.
India 1st innings (overnight 371/4):
Kohli lbw b Sandakan 243; Rohit c Dickwella b Sandakan 65; Ashwin c Perera b Gamage 4; Saha n.o 9; Jadeja n.o 5.
Extras: (lb 1, nb 7) 8.
Total (7 wkts dec, 127.5 ovs): 536.
FoW: 5/500, 6-519, 7-523.
Bowling: Lakmal 21.2-2-80-0, Gamage 25.3-7-95-2, Perera 31.1-0-145-1, Sandakan 33.5-1-167-4 (nb 7), De Silva 16-0-48-0.
Sri Lanka first innings:
Karunaratne c Saha b Shami 0; Perera lbw b Jadeja 42; De Silva lbw b Ishant 1; Mathews n.o 57; Chandimal n.o 25.
Extras (nb 1, penalty 5): 6.
Total (3 wkts, 44.3 ovs): 131.
FoW: 1-0, 2-14, 3-75.
Bowling: Shami 11-3-30-1 (nb 1), Sharma 10-4-44-1, Jadeja 14.3-6-24-1, Ashwin 9-3-28-0.