India vs South Africa 4th T20I was scheduled to play on 17th December, Wednesday but the match needed to be called off due to poor visibility issues as a dense layer of smog covered the Ekana Stadium at Lucknow. Before this in 2017, a dense layer of smog hit the stadium in the India vs Sri Lanka test match and as a result, the match was put on hold for a total of 22 minutes.
This time the match officials had to cancel the full match which leaves a serious concern over BCCI’s planning and scheduling, sparking debate all over the internet.
Hardik Pandya and several other players were seen wearing masks in the field. The match officials waited till 9.25 PM to make a decision and after that, the match was called off.
Controversy over BCCI’s scheduling
From November to December, team India played a total of 8 matches till now including Tests, ODIs and T20Is and the venues allotted for the full series against Proteas included New Chandigarh, Dharamsala, Lucknow, Ranchi, Raipur, Visakhapatnam, Cuttack, Ahmedabad, Guwahati and Kolkata.
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During this time in North India, the pollution level rose to its maximum and netizens targeted BCCI’s planning and scheduling of the matches as the timing of the scheduling of matches in North India is not feasible. In the last match, Indian players had to play in severe cold at Dharamsala which was also challenging for the Indian players. Though India is all set to play the New Zealand series matches in the venues across western and southern India.
Disappointment among the fans
Reportedly, the AQI at the stadium hit the 400 hazardous mark and players like Hardik Pandya were seen to wear surgical masks while practising. The match officials waited for the smog to disperse but after the sixth inspection match officials called off the match.
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Players started to leave the field by 7.30 pm and by 9 pm, spectators who had come in huge numbers also started to leave the field.
