India will play against Bangladesh in the first of two T20Is in Delhi on Sunday but the air quality became worse after Diwali. However, a couple of environmentalists has written an open letter to BCCI President Sourav Ganguly, requesting him to shift the venue for the game, adding “damage to our cricket team’s health in the long run”.

“On the 3rd of November India is scheduled to play against Bangladesh in a T20 match at Feroz Shah Kotla at a time when pollution levels are expected to be between severe to hazardous,” activists Jyoti Pande and Ravina Raj Kohli wrote to Sourav Ganguly in the open letter.

“In the light of extreme pollution in Delhi, we would like to request you to consider shifting the venue for the first T20 outside of Delhi,” they further added. “Making our cricketers play a physically demanding sport for 3-4 hours in Delhi’s toxic air will end up doing more damage to our cricket team’s health in the long run.”

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They both work for ‘Care For Air’ and ‘My Right To Breathe’, two non-profit organisations that work for the awareness for clean air.

“We would also like to request you to consider setting up of responsible sports protocols which take into consideration the AQI of venues and cities while scheduling cricket matches be it domestic or international,” they added.

India will face Bangladesh in two T20Is which will start from Sunday. The two teams then play two Test matches, starting on November 14.