On Day 3 of the third and the final Test between India and Sri Lanka in Delhi once gain saw hazy skies and extremely polluted air. Wile on the previous day, the visitors suffer greatly, as players on the field needed pollution masks and some of those back in the change room needed oxygen cylinders.

However, on Monday, just over half-an-hour into the day’s action, Sri Lanka skipper Dinesh Chandimal complained of uneasiness and needed the physio to attend to him for a while. Even some of the Indian players showed the cogency, as substitute fielder Vijay Shankar kept replacing some of the players like Ravichandran Ashwin, Murali Vijay, and Mohammed Shami on the field.

Shami did not agree with the Sri Lankans that the air quality was that bad. He said, “Pollution is an aspect that we seriously need to think about. But what was being portrayed (by Sri Lanka), it wasn’t to that extent. Also, it could be that we are more used to (pollution) it and our ability to adjust is much more compared to them.”

India may have dropped three catches in the slips but Shami came in defense of the fielders, he said, “Fielders are not machines [so] that they will grab anything that comes their way. Yes, you might get angry when a catch is dropped but, as a unit, we are playing around the year for the country. It’s part and parcel of the game, you have to ignore and move on. It’s after a long time this unit has dropped so many catches. We need to work hard and improve.”

The Bengal pacer also raised questions about not getting the pitches of their choice. He said, “The kind of wickets we wanted to prepare before going to South Africa, we haven’t been provided with. So it didn’t go as per our plans. But it’s a good thing. On these kinds of tracks, you need to work hard as a bowler. They test your fitness as you get to bowl long spells.”

Shami concluded by predicting the outcome of the Test, he said, “We have full hope that we can force a result. We will put in the effort until the last delivery.”