New Delhi: In a rarest of rare occurrence, the fourth T20 International between India and South Africa had to be called off without a ball being bowled at Lucknow because of ‘excessive fog’ reducing visibility at the ground to a bare minimum.
Around 30,000 spectators at the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium waited patiently as umpires inspected the conditions six times every half hour before deciding announcing the abandonment.
It was only the second time, after a Pakistan versus Zimbabwe Test match at Faisalabad in 1998, that an international cricket match was a non-starter due to foggy conditions.
As fans slammed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and demanded full refund, the matter became a point of debate among Parliamentarians as well.
Two senior Congress leaders — Lok Sabha MP Shashi Tharoor and Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Shukla – engaged in a debate outside Parliament on Thursday over the scheduling of matches in north India during the winter season.
Shukla, who was present at the venue on Wednesday and appeared frustrated at the turn of events, told reporters that greater care was required while drawing up the schedule in December and January, Tharoor butted in.
“How will they play if they cannot see the ball? That’s why I am saying this pollution problem is not there in south India. The ball can then be seen, we can play well and cricket fans won’t be heartbroken,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP said.
“Why schedule matches in north India at this time? Schedule them in south India,” Tharoor suggested.
Shukla responded by saying: “It’s not about Kerala. There needs to be more attention to scheduling matches between December 15 and January 15. Kerala gets matches anyway under the rotation policy.” he said.
As Tharoor tried to make his point further, Shukla quipped, “Then we’ll shift all matches to Kerala.”
Tharoor smiled and said that would be the best solution.
#WATCH | Delhi | Congress MP Shashi Tharoor urges VP- BCCI Executive Board, Rajeev Shukla, to shift winter schedule matches to South India, after yesterday’s India vs South Africa T20I match in Lucknow was cancelled due to fog. pic.twitter.com/Doq0hHZvCa
— ANI (@ANI) December 18, 2025
‘Delhi pollution has reached Lucknow’
Taking a dig at the BJP, which is in power in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said Delhi’s air pollution has now reached Lucknow.
“The international cricket match in Lucknow could not be played. The reason behind this is not fog, but smog. We had built a park in Lucknow to reduce air pollution, but the BJP is bent on destroying it by organising events. The BJP cares neither about people nor the environment,” Akhilesh posted on X.