Explained: Why England players are using inhalers at Cricket World Cup?

England cricket team players are reportedly taking the help of inhalers to tackle the issue of air pollution in major Indian cities. The air quality in the national capital, Delhi, has breached the alarming 400-mark and the situation has not been much different in Mumbai. The British newspaper ‘I’ has now reported that England team players are sporadically using inhalers, which are generally used by asthma patients, to deal with high pollution levels in cities that are hosting the ongoing World Cup 2023.

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Ben Stokes was one of the English players who was seen using the inhaler while training for the Sri Lanka game in Bangalore. The defending champions, who have lost five out of six matches so far, are currently in Ahmedabad for their match against Australia.

England’s Joe Root also reflected on the air pollution problem after the team’s defeat to South Africa in Mumbai last month.

“It just felt like you couldn’t get your breath. It was unique,” Root said. “Who knows whether it was air quality? I am not qualified to know. It felt like quite a hazy day, wasn’t it? And you could definitely see that from one side of the ground looking back towards the sun, it was a lot harder visually than it was on the other side of the ground.

“Whether it was air quality or what, it was definitely an experience I’ve not had before,” he said.

The deteriorating air quality condition in Mumbai was recently recognised by the Bombay High Court which on Tuesday took a suo motu cognisance of the issue.

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India captain Rohit Sharma also spoke about Mumbai’s poor air quality on Wednesday ahead of the Sri Lanka match.

“I mean, in an ideal world, you don’t want a situation like this, but I’m pretty sure the concerned people are taking the necessary steps. It’s not ideal, everyone knows that. But obviously, looking at our future generations – your kids, my kids – obviously, it’s quite important that they get to live without any fear.”

“So, yeah, every time I get to speak outside of cricket, if we are not discussing cricket, I always talk about this. You know we have to look after our future generations,” said Rohit.