A couple of years have gone by since a match was held in Feroz Shah Kotla stadium during Delhi's infamous winter season and the air condition of the region has continued to deteriorate with time. 

In 2017, Sri Lanka had come to India for a three-match Test series. After the first match ended in a draw and Team India won the second match, Suranga Lakma's men travelled to Delhi for the third and final match of the series with the hopes of ending it in a tie. 

Evidently a weaker team, there was little to no hope for the Sri Lankans to win against Virat Kohli's mighty side. So when their medium-fast bowler Lahiru Gamage complained of breathing issues which resulted in a 16-minute halt in the game, the fans of Team India thought that they were looking for excuses to delay or cancel the match. 

When Gamage called for the doctors once again, our skipper lost his cool and threw his bat in frustration and eventually declared the first innings at 536/7. 

The social media being its usual ruthless self trolled the Lankans for an “Oscar worthy performance”: 

And the oscar goes to Sri Lankan players for their amazing acting skills. #DelhiSmog #INDvSL #delhipollution pic.twitter.com/MSW8hFFsKz

— Subhankar Banerjee ð®ð³ (@SubhankarBan) December 3, 2017

Sri Lankan actors showing their skills in India.#INDvSL pic.twitter.com/qDCiOvAShn

— Murugesan Ayyandurai (@a_muru_masi) December 3, 2017

Sri Lankan Players Are Wearing Masks. No, That's Not Due To Smog. They're Hiding Their Face Out Of Shame. ð#INDvSL pic.twitter.com/bYGzQLki7E

— VIJAYANANDA REDDY (@vizagleo) December 3, 2017

Sri Lankan actors showing their skills in India.#INDvSL pic.twitter.com/4uCAPCRz9a

— Krishna (@Atheist_Krishna) December 3, 2017

It was however later revealed that Gamage and Suranga Lakmal's complaints of respiratory problems were real and that the two cricketers in fact ended up vomiting in the Sri Lankan dressing room. Later, all-rounder Dhananjaya de Silva also reportedly threw up. 

What was rather surprising to see was the way the then acting president of the BCCI, CK Khanna reacted to the crisis, calling out the opposition for creating 'unnecessary fuss' simply because the 20,000 fans inside the stadium had no problems sitting there, breathing the same toxic air.

"If 20,000 People In The Stands Did Not Have A Problem & The Indian Team Did Not Face Any Issue, I Wonder Why The Sri Lankan Team Made A Big Fuss. I Will Need To Talk To The Secretary And Ask Him To Write To The Sri Lanka Cricket."- BCCI Acting President CK Khanna#INDvSL #Kohli

— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) December 3, 2017

What was not accounted for in Khanna's assessment of things was the fact that Lakmal and Co. came from a land where the general air quality readings were below 50, which is at least 10 times better than what the readings for Delhi is on a good and healthy day. 

It is unfortunate to see that despite the incident took place two years ago and with a new administrative body taking care of Indian cricket, the BCCI's approach towards such serious concerns continue to be casual.

@SGanguly99 It is truly disappointing that @BCCI is treating Bangladesh team so poorly.
When there is already high pollution rate, how can our players play in such a condition !
Very Nasty work @BCCI_Tweet #INDvBAN

— Sultan Mashud (@MaximSalman1) November 1, 2019

The Sourav Ganguly-led Indian cricket board, despite receiving numerous letters and requests from former players and environmentalists, are going ahead with the Delhi match which is scheduled for later today, further risking the health of the visiting Bangladesh side. 

Our interim skipper Rohit Sharma's take on the pollution sounds the same as that of CK Khanna from two years ago. "We didn't have any problem when we played the Test match here (against Sri Lanka). We are not aware of the exact discussion and I haven't had any problem," said the white-ball opener, completely ignoring the opposition's health.

It's not a shame that we are discussing about pollution only when it threatens a cricket match. What's more embarassing is we discussed the same when it happened two years ago, and we did nothing significant to overcome it.#DelhiPollution#IndvsBan pic.twitter.com/j47tdGwj1g

— MSK Saravana (@Ed_MSK) November 1, 2019

If we have said it once, we have said it a thousand times. Normalising the kind of pollution Delhi experiences every year is not the solution and if that is the way we want to spend our rapidly decreasing life-span, we have no right to expose people from other countries to such toxicity.

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