Pakistan Cricket Board moves Sri Lanka Test to Rawalpindi over smog
The Pakistan Cricket Board moved the second Test against Sri Lanka from Lahore to Rawalpindi on Tuesday because of smog, retaining the Nov. 17-21 dates for the World Test Championship match.
The board cited worsening air quality and rising smog in Lahore as the reasons for the switch. The Punjab Environmental Protection Agency measured the city's Air Quality Index at 421, a hazardous level.
Swiss air-monitoring company IQAir ranked Lahore the world's most polluted major city on Tuesday. Its data showed Lahore and Delhi frequently trading the worst air-quality ranking during the past week. Heavy smog has blanketed much of Pakistan in recent weeks.
Rawalpindi will now stage both matches consecutively in the two-Test series. The first is already under way there. Pakistan declared their first innings at 434-9, before Sri Lanka reached 114-3 by the close of Tuesday's second day, The Associated Press reported.
The same teams played three Twenty20 matches in Rawalpindi in October.
Broadcasters had raised concerns that severe smog in Lahore could impair coverage if the second Test went ahead there, Cricinfo reported. As conditions deteriorated earlier in the week, broadcasters were told to hold off on travel plans while the board readied an announcement on relocation, the report said.
It was not immediately known whether Sri Lanka Cricket was consulted about the change or what would happen to tickets sold for the Lahore match.
Cricinfo said the relocation dealt a setback to the board's attempt to extend Lahore's cricket season into early autumn. The outlet noted that the city has not hosted an international match later than Nov. 1 since 2007.
Poor air quality in Punjab, particularly Lahore, has often disrupted cricket at this time of year. Smog forced a white-ball series between Pakistan and Zimbabwe out of Lahore and into Rawalpindi in November 2020.
Air-quality concerns have affected Multan, too. A Test between Pakistan and New Zealand moved from Multan to Karachi in December 2022 for that reason.
