India AQI: ODI World Cup in the time of heavy air pollution

Mumbai and Kolkata will host the two ODI World Cup semifinals on November 15 and 16, days after Diwali on November 12, when the air quality is likely to be worse than it is now. (Photo via X)

When Sri Lanka played a Test match in Delhi in December 2017, the match was halted repeatedly owing to the players’ discomfort with the pollution levels in the city. On the second day of the third Test of that series, with air pollution levels at 15 times of the World Health Organization limits, according to reports, the Lankans were continuously vomiting, had to halt play for 20 minutes to consult doctors and returned from lunch wearing face masks. According to the Lankan coach, there were oxygen cylinders in the changing room.

While the players got booed by the less-than-sporting Delhi spectators, the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) then acting president said, according to the Guardian, that if the Indian team and 20,000 people in the stands did not have a problem, “I wonder why did the Sri Lankan team make a big fuss?”

Sri Lankan cricket has been facing a bit of a challenge when playing against India in recent times. If that 2017 experience was one aspect of it, their 302-run loss in the World Cup match at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday was another. At one point, Lanka looked like they might beat the lowest-ever one-day international (ODI) score (36 by Canada, ironically against Sri Lanka this February), but managed to pull through to a total of 55 all out. India has won the last six ODIs against Lanka, which include large margins of 10 wickets (in Colombo in September) and 317 runs (in Thiruvananthapuram in January) besides this week’s 302-run demolition.

Though Sri Lanka did not mention the pollution as a factor, it is one of the talking points of this World Cup. The air quality index (AQI), which is a measure of air pollution, in Mumbai on Thursday was 155, considered unhealthy. In Colombo, Sri Lanka’s biggest city, the AQI on Thursday was 41, considered good. In comparison, Delhi, the world’s most polluted city by a margin, on Friday had an AQI of 500-plus, considered hazardous. For comparison, some of the other major cities in the world have healthy AQIs in the region of 13 (Melbourne), 25 (Amsterdam), 29 (London) and 32 (Johannesburg)—all cities from countries that are participating in this World Cup.

There are several veiled—and obvious—indicators about the air quality affecting players and play. The air quality, naturally, would have an impact on any outdoor athletic endeavour that requires heavy breathing, which makes playing cricket in places like Mumbai (also rather humid in October) and Delhi challenging.

“I’ve not played in anything like that before,” England’s Joe Root told reporters after South Africa beat England by 229 runs in a World Cup match in Mumbai on October 21. “I’ve obviously played in hotter conditions, and probably more humid conditions. But it just felt like you couldn’t get your breath. It was like you were eating the air. It was unique.” The AQI in Mumbai on October 21 was 161 (unhealthy), while the temperature reached as high as 37 degrees Celsius.

The British publication i reported on Thursday that the air quality may be forcing some players, including Ben Stokes, to use inhalers to manage playing under polluted conditions. England also lost, shockingly, to Afghanistan on October 15 in Delhi, where the AQI at the time was an unhealthy 164. England play their next match against the Netherlands on November 8 in Pune (expected AQI of 118, which is mildly unhealthy) and then against Pakistan on November 11 in Kolkata (currently at an unhealthy AQI of the mid-150s this whole week).

Mumbai AQI on October 26, 2023

“I mean you couldn’t get away from it,” Root said after the South Africa match, without blaming the conditions for their loss. “You walk out onto the field and your shirt’s soaking wet, and you have a lot heavier breath than you would do, and you know you’ve done your fitness and stuff, it’s not like you’re short on that. So you are very aware of it.”

Ahead of India’s match against Sri Lanka, captain Rohit Sharma made an oblique comment about the air quality, saying, “In an ideal world, you do not want a situation like this but I am pretty sure that the concerned people are taking the necessary steps to avoid this kind of situation. Looking at our future generations, your kids, my kid. Obviously, it is important that they get to live without any fear.”

With Diwali just round the corner on November 12, Mumbai and Kolkata host the two semifinals on November 15 and 16, on days when the air quality is likely to be worse than it is currently.

The BCCI tried to put a Band-Aid on a bullet wound by stopping people from setting off firecrackers for the remaining World Cup games in the two cities. “BCCI is sensitive to environmental concerns. I took up the matter formally with the ICC and there won’t be any fireworks display in Mumbai, which can add to the pollution level. The board is committed to combating environmental issues and will always place the interest of our fans and stakeholders at the forefront,” BCCI secretary Jay Shah said in a statement.

Environmental issues and climate change are not easily solved problems, nor are they the interest of just a few because they affect everyone. If sport and sportspeople are affected adversely by it, particularly in developing nations and the subcontinent, it requires more than a few concerned people taking the necessary steps.

The World Cup itself has contributed handsomely against the cause of the environment, an inevitable fallout of organizing a mega tournament that caters to fans across the country. The Indian team, for example, is playing all 10 matches of its league schedule in 10 different venues, in places as far spread as Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Dharamsala, clocking up some serious air miles. With 10 teams in this World Cup, that’s a lot of aviation fuel used up. One of the sponsors at this World Cup is a crude oil and chemical company, with whom the International Cricket Council (ICC) has a partnership that includes sponsorship of the men’s T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, the women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa and the World Test Championship Final in the UK.

On Thursday, when India was playing Sri Lanka in Mumbai, the buildings of Walkeshwar were barely visible from across the sea off Marine Drive, which is just a few kilometres away. Australia’s Mitchell Marsh, when asked about the air quality in Delhi, according to Independent, said in mild jest, “I think the only time I’m affected by the air quality is when my golf ball goes up in the air and I can’t see it, but apart from that, absolutely no stress in mind.”

Sport and sportspeople, with their wide reach and influence, are best placed to make the change, rather than being people facing an adverse career impact because of it. The 2023 ODI World Cup, if anything, will add to this important conversation of cleaning up the environment.