Smog threatens to hamper Delhi v Services clash in Ranji Trophy

The capital city of India, New Delhi, has been gripped by smog in the last few days. The high levels of pollution in the city has been causing disruptions to the daily life of the citizens of the city. Now, the smog that has covered the city heavily, is threatening to hamper the upcoming Ranji Trophy 2017-18 fixture between Delhi and Services. The match is scheduled to start of Thursday (November 9).

However, considering the recent trends of smog grappling the air, it is unlikely that the match will get underway on the first day. Despite the alarming pollution rates and the potential threat to all the four days of the match, the officials still have kept their fingers crossed. The match has not been called off yet as the officials hope to inspect the situation on the day 3 of the match before taking a final decision on the match.

Talking about the severe pollution levels, the visibility in the city has gone down to as high as 300 metres in some parts. This has caused the train delays and the slowing down of the flight operations in the national capital. The Delhi government, who are very much troubled by all of this, have issued a health advisory too.

They have asked the high risk people, that includes children, the elderly, and the pregnant women to stay indoors. The air quality has gone down significantly with level of dangerous PM2.5 particles being at 475 microgrammes per cubic metre – which is 19 times more than the permissible limits globally.

Bizarre incidences in Ranji Trophy

Earlier last week, the Ranji Trophy match between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh took place at the Air Force grounds, Palam. During the penultimate day’s play, a car was seen intruding on the pitch and thereby disrupting the game. The driver later claimed that he had lost his way and seeing no security guards at the venue, he ended up entering in to the ground.