NEW DELHI: The abandonment of the fourth T20I between India and South Africa without a ball being bowled has triggered serious introspection within the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), with vice-president Rajeev Shukla admitting that the board may have to take drastic steps on winter scheduling in northern India.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The match at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium was officially called off on Wednesday due to “excessive fog”, but the reality was a thick blanket of smog that sharply reduced visibility and raised concerns over player safety. It marked only the second instance in international cricket history of a match being abandoned due to fog.
Speaking exclusively to Times Now, Shukla acknowledged the gravity of the situation and hinted at a major policy rethink. “BCCI will have to rethink winter scheduling and stop matches in North India,” he said, adding that air pollution can no longer be treated as a routine inconvenience. “It is an emergency and needs to be treated like one.”The contest, scheduled to begin at 7 pm, was eventually abandoned around 9:30 pm after six inspections, though it had become clear much earlier that conditions would only deteriorate as the evening progressed. Players had curtailed their warm-ups by 7:30 pm, and by 9 pm, large sections of the crowd had begun leaving the stadium.
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Air Quality Index (AQI) levels in Lucknow hovered above 400 — firmly in the ‘hazardous’ category — prompting visible concern. Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya was seen wearing a surgical mask during warm-ups, an image that quickly went viral and intensified scrutiny of BCCI’s scheduling choices.Shukla himself walked onto the field during one of the inspections, and his disappointed body language after speaking with match officials reflected the mood. With no reserve day available, both teams will now travel to Ahmedabad for the series decider on Friday, with India leading 2–1.The broader criticism centres on the venue selection for the South Africa tour, which spanned cities like New Chandigarh, Dharamsala and Lucknow during November and December — a period notorious for fog, cold and severe pollution in north India. Just last week, the Dharamsala T20I was played in sub-10-degree temperatures, with spinner Varun Chakravarthy admitting the conditions were “quite challenging”.
