Joe Root Reveals England Cricketers Struggled to Breathe Due to Poor Air Quality of Mumbai During SA vs ENG CWC 2023 Match, Says 'It Was Like Eating Air'
It was hot in Mumbai on the matchday and the conditions were hazy. The temperature were shooting up to 35°C and the air quality dipped to levels rated as 'very unhealthy'. Players on both sides were left gasping for air. Heinrich Klaasen collapsed multiple times while batting while Adil Rashid, already affected by illness, struggled to catch his breath.
England had a poor start to their ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 campaign with them losing three out of their first four matches. They have only won one game against Bangladesh and the latest defeat came against South Africa in Mumbai where they were smashed for 400 runs and then bowled out for only 170. England were totally outplayed in the contest against the Proteas and this loss and thrown them at the bottom of the table and they now face an uphill task of recovering and qualifying for the semifinal of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023. While introspecting the reasons for the crushing defeat against South Africa, star England batter Joe Root revealed that the air quality of Mumbai was very poor during the match and it almost felt like the cricketers were 'Eating Air'. ICC Cricket World Cup 2023: ’It Should Be Down to What Engages Next Generation of Players, Says Joe Root on Future of One-Day Cricket.
It was hot in Mumbai on the matchday and the conditions were hazy. The temperature were shooting up to 35°C and the air quality dipped to levels rated as 'very unhealthy'. Players on both sides were left gasping for air. Heinrich Klaasen collapsed multiple times while batting while Adil Rashid, already affected by illness, struggled to catch his breath.
In an interview given to Innews.co.uk, Joe Root said “I’ve not played in anything like that before. I’ve obviously played in hotter conditions, and probably more humid conditions. But it just felt like you couldn’t get your breath. It was like you were eating the air. It was unique. You could see it with Klaasen. You could see how much it took out of him, not being able to get back out onto the field.
“I mean you couldn’t get away from it. You walk out onto the field and your shirt’s soaking wet, and you have a lot heavier breath than you would do, and you know you’ve done your fitness and stuff, it’s not like you’re short on that. So you are very aware of it. Rash bless him, I don’t think was great going into the game. He put in a brilliant performance for us. Some of the noises he was making when he was walking back to his mark summed it up, really. Trying to get his breath back. It was tough, but that’s the sort of stuff that you come up against and contend with when you come out to play in India at this time of year.”
Asked whether he thought the pollution rather than the heat had made it hard to breath, Root said: “Who knows whether it was air quality? I’m not qualified to know. It felt like quite a hazy day, wasn’t it? And you could definitely see that from one side of the ground looking back towards the sun, it was a lot harder visually as well than it was on the other side of the ground. Whether it was air quality or what, it was definitely an experience I’ve not had before.” Brydon Carse Replaces Injured Reece Topley in England Squad for ICC Cricket World Cup 2023.
Air quality has been an issue throughout the tournament in India, a country with an average AQI of 144 in 2022 that ranked it behind only Kuwait, Burkina Faso, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Pakistan, Iraq and Chad. Central Delhi, where England played their third match against Afghanistan on 15 October, regularly has an AQI above 300 – a level rated as “hazardous” by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 24, 2023 03:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).