There were plenty of hue and cry in the cricketing fraternity when all the Sri Lankan cricketers were seen wearing an anti-pollution mask during the second day of the third Test against India at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi on Sunday (December 3). In fact, the game was halted for nearly half an hour as the visiting cricketers cited uneasiness due to poor air quality caused by smog.
Amidst the rare scenes on the cricket field, India’s chief coach Ravi Shastri was spotted walking out to the middle in an aggressive manner to discuss the matter with the umpires and his Lankan counterparts. Twitteratis though was in a mood to have some fun as they decided to troll Shastri for marching out to the field furiously.
"Play must go on, conditions are safe." I think that's what Ravi Shastri told the umpires. Coz he knows what the Doctors order.ðŸ˜#INDvSL pic.twitter.com/X15saZwrIf
— Chinmay JawalekarðŸ (@CricfreakTweets) December 3, 2017
Ravi Shastri walks up to the Srilankan players like he will start beating them black and blue if they don't take the field now.
— LOLendra Singh (@LOLendraSingh) December 3, 2017
Ravi Shastri walked up to the umpires to tell them what the doctor ordered.
— Khichdi (@bagrat15) December 3, 2017
Smog? Pollution? What's happening? https://t.co/D24LcwSe9o #BCCI
— SAJAL PATRA (@sajrob) December 4, 2017
RAVI SHASTRI: Can't you dumb idiots get all those who are causing delays out of the field?
— Kiran A (@ashkir2001) December 3, 2017
UMPIRE: But sir, even you are doing the same!!#INDvSL Sri Lankan out cold😠pic.twitter.com/oy2kOBjtaY
Ravi Shastri came and told the umpires animatedly, "Agar khel ruka toh abse fokat ki daaru pi lena fir." That scared the hell out of the umpires, they are starting the play now.
— Abhishek (@Sajjanlaunda) December 3, 2017
Ravi Shastri looks damn angry. His entry gave me chills. 😂😂#INDvSL
— Rahul Sharma ðŸ (@CricFreakRD) December 3, 2017
See More: Virat Kohli urges Delhiites to do their bit in a fight against toxic smog
India skipper Virat Kohli, who struck a career-best 243 by batting for nearly seven and half hours, declared his first innings on 536 for seven. However, when the Lankans came out to bat, they were not seen with their mask on. All the five visiting batsmen looked at ease while being at the crease and that’s where they get a lot of flak from the Kotla spectators.
In fact, many of the former Indian cricketers have expressed their concerned over the entire saga and wondered if it was to break the concentration of Indian captain Virat Kohli, who was looking all set to notch up his maiden triple ton in Test cricket.
"Virat Kohli and the team management saw that the game is going away from their hands, they are losing time and they declared. Virat lost his concentration, the purpose of the game and got out,” Ganguly said in an interview with India Today.
“But when they (Sri Lanka) came out to bat, I didn't see any mask on all of those five batsmen who were at the crease. Nobody had the mask and if you look at the pavilion they were sitting in, there was no mask either. So, I don't know how everything changed in such a quick time. If Gamage and Lakmal were running it with a mask, even Angelo Mathews was running for ones and twos. It's the same thing. What surprised me is that they never complained, wore the mask or made a show off it. That's the worrying bit and I hope the intentions were not bad," he further added.