😷 Forget the pitch report. Today’s India-Bangladesh cricket match needs an Air Quality Report!
Two years ago, a cricket match between India and Sri Lanka in New Delhi made headlines around the world when several Sri Lankan cricket players vomited due to extreme air pollution and had to be escorted off the field.
Despite that very public disaster and international embarrassment, today the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium (recently renamed to Arun Jaitley Stadium) in New Delhi will once again host a cricket match on a day where air quality levels are many times higher than India’s guideline for clean air. According to researchers, breathing in Delhi at these pollution levels is equivalent to smoking around 30 cigarettes.

Today at 6pm, India and Bangladesh will take to the field in New Delhi to play a historic game of cricket when PM2.5 dangerous fine particles are forecast to be 488ug/m3 at that time.
Historic!?
Yes, this game is historic.
“No matter which team puts up more runs on the board, both teams will lose today.” -Amrit Sharma, Founder, AirPollution.io
It is not historic because these two cricketing nations are arch-rivals. They aren’t.
It is not historic because this is a crucial series. It isn’t.
It is not historic because this is a crucial game in an otherwise insignificant series. It isn’t.
This insignificant match in this insignificant series will live in infamy for its’ remarkable assault on common sense.
New Delhi is in the grips of yet another predictable hazardous air pollution spell. The air is a cocktail of harmful particles from several sources including diwali firecrackers, crop burning, construction projects, waste burning, road dust, vehicular emissions, etc.
People in Delhi and most of the indo-gangetic plains from Dhaka to Lahore are literally gasping for air — crying for help on twitter, flooding the hospitals with respiratory illnesses, while schools in Delhi are shut until November 5.
Air pollution is a matter of life and death. According to the University of Chicago’s AQLI, air pollution causes Delhi residents to lose 10.2 years of life expectancy.
No matter which team puts up more runs on the board, both teams will lose today.
But it’s not just the players — the spectators at the stadium, millions of children watching the game on their TVs at home and common sense will all lose today.
Air pollution is not just a Delhi problem in India, there are 69 districts across India that are suffering from severe air pollution, aka over 250ug/m3 PM2.5.
The only glimmer of hope today is that this bold display of apathy towards this global public health emergency will help bring more much needed attention and outrage towards it.
Meanwhile, the air quality levels at the next couple games in Rajkot and Nagpur is relatively better.
Amrit Sharma
Founder, AirPollution.io
