When Bangladesh’s T20I side stepped out of the pavilion onto the playing field at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Thursday afternoon in the midst of a pungent haze induced by a ‘severe’ category air pollution, dashing wicket-keeper batsman Liton Das was the only player wearing a face mask. But he took it off after about ten minutes.
Even though the blanket of haze over Delhi thickened on Friday morning with the pollution levels increasing overnight by around 50 points, taking the overall air quality index to 459 (up from 410 at 8pm on Thursday) forcing many people to skip morning walks and sports activities and pushing up the number of masked faces, the air quality was the last thing not only on Liton’s but of the entire visiting team’s mind as they worked out for two hours in preparation for Sunday night’s first T20I match against India.
For over two hours, Bangladesh cricketers practiced at the Arun Jaitley stadium in New Delhi on Thursday afternoon ahead of the November 3 opener of the three-match T20 series against India on Sunday night. Liton summed up the entire mood in the Bangladesh camp when he said that his team-mates were not thinking about Delhi’s air quality and remained focused on Sunday’s encounter and the air of expectancy from the young players in the absence of stars like Shakib Al Hasan and Tamim Iqbal.
Asked whey he used the mask, Liton told reporters that “for a while, I was not feeling good so I wore a mask. Everything else is good. At present, the team was focused on performing well in the T20 series,” he told reporters in Bangla. Bangladesh’s immediate build-up to the India series has been tough with the recent players’ strike and a ban on Shakib found guilty by the ICC’s Anti Corruption Tribunal for not reporting approaches by an Indian bookie. However, Liton maintained “we’ve had a reasonably good preparation before coming here. We had a camp back home. It is a good opportunity for the players to adapt.”
Regarding Shakib, he said “we are doing our best to miss his services. It must also be remembered that there have been times when he was not available due to injury but Bangladesh played and won.” India, ranked fifth in the ICC T20 rankings holds an 8-0 record against ninth-placed Bangladesh in the shortest format of the game.
Responding to another question, Liton said “if you look at our team, most of us are new comers. The team looks forward to young players to play their natural game and contribute. It is not the responsibility of only the seniors to perform. This is the realization within the team that contributions have to come from across the board.”
Clearly, the young talents in the Bangladesh squad will be in focus. The Bangladesh selectors gambled by omitting seasoned campaigners like Rubel Hossain and Sabbir Rahman. For long, Bangladesh has depended on the likes of Shakib, Tamim, Mushfiqur Rahim and Mashrafe Mortaza. It is high time the youngsters are tried out and stand up to be counted, ensuring a promising future for Bangladesh.
“Most of the players in our team are juniors or newcomers. They have been told to perform well and shoulder greater responsibility. We are looking forward to the youngsters to play their natural game,” Liton said. Concerned over air pollution, a Supreme Court mandated panel today declared a public health emergency in the Delhi and its adjoining regions and banned construction activity till November 5. The Environment Pollution (Prevention and Control) Authority also banned the bursting of crackers during winter. "We have to take this as a public health emergency as air pollution will have adverse health impact on all, particularly our children," EPCA chairperson Bhure Lal said in a letter to chief secretaries of Delhi and neighbouring Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
