Can't help it if there is pollution, says Dhawan

New Delhi: India open Shikhar Dhawan admitted there were pollution issues in the capital but said they cannot come in the way of playing cricket for the country.

Sri Lanka have been affected by the prevalent smog and took to the field wearing masks. India, however, refused to make a big deal of it. But on Tuesday Suranga Lakmal vomited on the field as did Mohammad Shami later in the day.

Dhawan said Shami is fine and fit to play. "Look I have been born and brought up in Delhi. This is the time of crop harvesting in some of the states, this month pollution is wee bit more. Also, this time, we haven't experienced good sunshine. May be if there was sunshine, pollution would have been less. I don't think playing cricket was a problem. As far as Shami is concerned, he is fine and you will see him in action tomorrow," he said.

Asked whether India's stand on smog has altered after the condition of Shami, Dhawan said, "May be they are uncomfortable. May be there is less pollution in Sri Lanka. There are more beaches in Sri Lanka. It's natural that a city surrounded by beaches won't have pollution. Of course they may be feeling. As I said I won't hide that there is pollution in Delhi. Now if it's there, it's there. Can't help it. But still I would insist that we should do our duty – that is to play cricket.

"There are a lot of players in our team who are not used to this pollution in Delhi as they come from other states. That's my thinking because not everyone in our team is from Delhi. The situation is same for them also."

Dhawan, who curbed his attacking instincts to score 67 off 91 balls, said India would go all out to seal the match on Wednesday. Chasing India's target of 410 runs, Sri Lanka were reduced to 31/3 on Tuesday.

"There was instruction to score quick runs so that we can have enough runs to put SL on again today itself. We had to shift gears otherwise I would have batted differently. I enjoyed playing that way. We would be trying hard to finish it tomorrow as we are in good situation with three (of their) wickets down," he said.