Sri Lanka players wore masks while fielding after the lunch session on the second day at the Ferozshah Kotla Stadium.
In an unprecedented incident, Sri Lanka enforced three interruptions. During the second session of the Test against India at the Ferozeshah Kotla on account of perceived unhealthy conditions.
When game resumed after lunch on the second day of the match. Five Sri Lankan players took the field wearing face masks. Then irinically it procured from the Indian dressing room.
Soon, seamer Lahiru Gamage complained of breathlessness and skipper Dinesh Chandimal stepped in to speak to the umpires.
Play was suspended for 17 minutes when umpires Nigel Long and Joel Wilson consulted with the match referee David Boon. India skipper Virat Kohli too joined the discussion before play resumed.
The Indian skipper didn’t look happy at the way the game was going post the smog break, and he signaled to Ravindra Jadeja and Wriddhiman Saha to come back as the hosts wanted to have a crack at the visitor’s batting and declared the innings while India was 536/7.
There were two more stoppages of four minutes and five minutes each. Sri Lanka, at one stage reduced to ten men, when mediumpacer Suranga Lakmal too left the field.
Even as the spectators waited patiently, India declared the innings but not before the coaches Ravi Shastri and Nic Pothas walked to the middle to speak to the umpires.
Smog is a very common phenomenon in Delhi as farmers in the adjoining states of Punjab and Haryana burn crops during the end of October and November.