Team India could give outdoor sessions a miss courtsey Delhi's hazardous air

Team India is all set to host Bangladesh for a three-match Twenty20 International series which will be followed by a couple of Test matches in Indore and Kolkata. The first of the three Twenty20 Internationals will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi, and the city’s deteriorating air quality is once again in focus.

With the Air Quality Index (AQI) not showing any signs of improvement in the national capital, Team India players could give hardcore outdoor training sessions at the Arun Jaitley Stadium a miss and spend more time at the gym before Sunday’s T20I. Team India is set to arrive in the national capital on October 31 and has two training sessions planned.

Team India’s training sessions to be optional

Both the training sessions on November 01 and 02 are scheduled from 2 PM to 5 PM, but it could turn out into optional sessions. “The match shouldn’t be a major problem as it is a night match, but the issue is the training (set for the mornings) and you could see optional training sessions on both the days if the weather doesn’t improve.”

“This isn’t a fresh season and the players have already been playing so some gym sessions should be enough to get them up and running after the Diwali break. And even if you have the senior players coming in on Saturday — the eve of the game — it could be just to gauge the playing conditions. But again, all that depends on the weather conditions.”

“We have been keeping a check on the weather forecast and while the sun didn’t come out on Tuesday, it is showing sunny on Friday, so in that case, training shouldn’t be a problem. Once the sun comes out, things will hopefully be sorted and in that scenario, we will have full training sessions,” the source said as quoted by Times of India.

‘It was hurting the eyes a bit’ – DDCA Official

A senior DDCA official said that the weather could force a slight change in training timings on Saturday as the air in the mornings is an issue in these conditions. The first of three T20I between India and Bangladesh will take place on Sunday, November 03. Meanwhile, the BCB has confirmed that they will play the day-night Test at Eden Gardens starting from 22nd of November. 

Bangladesh will miss their captain Shakib Al Hasan for the whole India tour as the ICC banned him for two years for accepting the fixing approach in IPL 2018 and tri-series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. The ICC has given one year suspended sentence for accepting three charges. He will be back on 29th October 2020.

[interaction id=”5db2fdfe5b2f78820e8206c5″]