Test cricket hits new barrier as bad air halts play in Delhi
New Delhi — Choking smog stopped play in the third Test between India and Sri Lanka in New Delhi on Sunday, with players wearing face masks as air quality dropped to hazardous levels in the heavily polluted capital. Many of Sri Lanka’s fielders took the extraordinary step of wearing face masks when they returned from lunch on the second day after smog worsened. The Press Trust of India said it was the first time in the 140-year history of Test cricket that an international side had taken to the field in face masks. The US embassy website showed concentrations of the smallest and most harmful airborne pollutants in Delhi had hit 384 — 15 times the World Health Organisation (WHO) maximum — before returning to levels considered just "unhealthy". Play was halted for 20 minutes at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium as Sri Lanka complained about the smog and the umpires consulted the referee, team doctors and physiotherapists. Play resumed but the visitors protested twice more, and pacemen Lahi...
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