Air of invincibility

Rohit Mahajan

Kolkata, November 3

The Indian cricket party reached their eighth city of the World Cup — 10th, if you count the warm-up venues Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram. That’s a lot of flying in a little over four weeks. Rohit Sharma says the ‘boys’ are enjoying the travel across India, and if the Indian captain says so, it had better be believed.

It must be stated, however, that Mumbai and Kolkata, separated by the breadth of India, are not an air traveller’s delight — the roads are congested, the air is thick with pollution and foul with smell. The cricketers, we acknowledge, live in a bubble, a sort of rose-scented existence, but they must step on the field at some stage — Joe Root of England felt that the air at the Wankhede in Mumbai during the match against South Africa was so heavy, it seemed that he was not breathing air, he was “eating air”. “I’ve not played in anything like that before… It just felt like you couldn’t get your breath. It was like you were eating the air. It was unique,” Root said.

In Delhi today, the Bangladeshis cancelled their training because of the air pollution reached dangerous levels in the city.

In Kolkata, AQI numbers across the city showed the air was ‘poor’, and light rain in the vicinity of the Eden Gardens ground here offered some respite, bringing some coolness to the air by giving it a wash. Rohit has expressed worry at the pollution levels in Mumbai, but he’s the sort to shrug his shoulders and laugh it off and get on with the game. The Indians have played in New Delhi during the height of winter pollution; in 2017, Mohammed Shami, who has been breathing fire in the World Cup, wasn’t doing so during the Delhi Test against Sri Lanka, he was puking out liquids. The Indians would put their best foot forward on Sunday, regardless of whether the air is edible or breathable.

The Indian team reached in the afternoon and went straight to their perfumed environs of their hotel, but not so head coach Rahul Dravid and the coaching staff — they went to the Eden Gardens to have a look at the wicket on which the team would play South Africa on Sunday. This was before the rain, and Dravid was able to spend some 15 minutes at the ground, examining the wicket in the presence of Ashish Bhowmick, the head of the BCCI’s grounds and pitches committee, and the local curator.

In the three matches played here so far, the highest score has been 229 by the Netherlands against Bangladesh; Bangladesh played a second match here, on October 31, and were bowled out for 204.

India possess a very good bowling line-up — some, such as former England captain Michael Atherton, suggest that it’s India’s best-ever attack; and South Africa, while batting first, have racked up scores such as 428, 311, 399, 382 and 357. India are unbeaten in the tournament, South Africa have suffered one shock defeat, to the Netherlands. It would be a moment of truth for the two teams at the Eden Gardens on Sunday. Is the Indian bowling attack really unplayable? Is the South African batting line-up — average a staggering 375.4 when batting first — really unstoppable?

Sunday’s clash could be the best of the group stage. Can’t wait for Sunday.