Sri Lanka cancel training due to "severe" air pollution in Delhi, Bangladesh brave it out with masks
New Delhi, Nov 4: Sri Lanka cancelled their opening training session in the national capital on Saturday due to "severe" air pollution but Bangladesh braved the adverse weather conditions to train, a day after choosing to skip their practice session.
Bangladesh, who arrived here on Wednesday, had decided against practising on Friday as the pollution levels in the city hit the "severe plus" category.
Sri Lanka followed them into staying indoors on Saturday when the Air Quality Index stood at 407 in the morning.
"It was cancelled owing to the air quality issue," said a SLC source, referring to the Saturday's training session.
However, Bangladesh players, wearing masks, came out for practice at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
An AQI between zero and 50 is considered "good", 51 and 100 "satisfactory", 101 and 200 "moderate", 201 and 300 "poor", 301 and 400 "very poor", and 401 and 500 "severe".
It is unlikely that the International Cricket Council (ICC) will shift the game out of Delhi but the call on whether the match will go ahead will only be taken on that day.
"We are currently assessing the situation. The ICC and our hosts the BCCI take the well-being of all participants seriously and are monitoring the air quality in Delhi. We are taking expert advice to assess the situation," an ICC spokesperson told PTI.
The air quality is usually assessed by match officials on the day of a game.
It is not the first time that Sri Lanka are having to deal with Delhi's notorious air pollution. The players had to wear masks during the Test series back in 2017. Even the Bangladesh cricketers resorted to wearing masks in Delhi ahead of a T20 in 2019.
On Friday, Bangladesh team director Khaled Mahmud said the players developed cough after going out in the city and therefore the management decided to cancel the first training session.
On Friday, the air quality plummeted to the "severe plus" category.
"Many( cricketers) went out yesterday (Thursday) and now they are having some kind of coughing so there is a risk factor involved and so we cancelled the training so that they don't get unwell," said Mahmud at the team hotel.
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Jharkhand civic polls: 12 pc voter turnout recorded in 48 ULBs till 9 am
Ranchi (PTI): Around 12 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 9 am in the civic polls to 48 urban local bodies in Jharkhand on Monday, an election official said.
Voting, which commenced at 7 am, is underway amid tight security. It will continue till 5 pm, he said.
"Voter turnout of 12 per cent was recorded till 9 am. Polling is underway peacefully," State Election Commission (SEC) secretary Radhe Shyam Prasad said.
Over 43 lakh voters are eligible to decide the fate of 6,000-plus candidates.
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State Election Commissioner (SEC) Alka Tiwari exercised her franchise at ward number 40 in Ranchi.
"Polling is underway peacefully across the state and reports are so far good from every ULB. I would like to appeal to the voters to exercise their franchise," Tiwari told reporters.
Prasad said the elections are underway for the posts of mayor and chairperson in 48 ULBs, and councillors in 1,042 wards across nine municipal corporations, 20 nagar parishads and 19 nagar panchayats.
As many as 562 candidates, including 235 women, are in the fray for the posts of mayor and chairperson, while 5,562 candidates, including 2,727 women, are contesting the posts of ward councillors.
Prasad said adequate security arrangements have been made in all the booths.
A total of 4,307 polling booths have been set up for the elections. Of these, 896 have been identified as hyper-sensitive and 2,445 as sensitive.
