Delhi Pollution: Two Ranji Trophy matches hit by smog for second consecutive day

New Delhi: The thick smog that has shrouded the national capital for the past week affected two Ranji Trophy cricket matches for the second consecutive day in Delhi on Sunday. The Gujarat vs Bengal and Hyderabad vs Tripura matches were abandoned for the day without a ball being bowled. Placed on top of the table with 15 points each, Gujarat and Bengal chose to call off the second day play of the Group A match due to poor visibility at the Ferozeshah Kotla. [caption id=“attachment_3092290” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Manoj Tiwary, Shreevats Goswami, Pragyan Ojha wearing anti-air pollution masks. PTI[/caption] In the same manner, the Group C encounter between Hyderabad and Tripura at the Karnail Singh Stadium was also a non-starter due to the thick smog. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) later on Sunday rescheduled the two smog-hit Ranji Trophy cricket matches to a yet undeclared date recognising the “extraordinary circumstances” prevailing in the national capital. The dates and venues of the matches will be announced later, BCCI said. In other matches across the country, after Baroda suffered a monumental collapse on Saturday against Tamil Nadu in their Group A encounter in Raipur to get bowled out for 93 runs, Tamil Nadu posted 337 in their first innings on the second day. In reply, Baroda scored 44 runs with openers Kedar Devdhar and Dhiren Mistry remaining unbeaten. In Mysuru, after bowling out Mumbai for 345, Railways reached 76/3 on the second day with Nitin Bhille and Arindham Ghosh at the crease when stumps were drawn. In Hyderabad, Punjab reached 243/3 on the second day against Uttar Pradesh with India discard Yuvraj Singh and promising youngster Mandeep Singh scoring 72 and 10, respectively, at stumps. In Kolkata, Saurashtra scored 121/9 on the second day on Sunday after a wet outfield prevented any play on the first day against Assam. Jaidev Unadkat was the top scorer for Saurashtra with an unbeaten 31. Pacer Arup Das scalped seven wickets to put his team in a comfortable position.