'Like eating air': England players struggling to breathe at World Cup 2023

England's players struggled to breathe last Saturday during their clash against South Africa at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium, English batsman Joe Root said as per UK's I News. England lost that encounter against South Africa by 229 runs. England conceded their highest-ever ODI total of 399 for seven while the Proteas bundled them out for just 170. 

According to the report, players on both sides were left gasping for air. South Africa's Heinrich Klaasen was unable to field following his 67-ball innings of 109 and England's Adil Rashid, already affected by illness, struggled to catch his breath. "I've not played in anything like that before," Root was quoted as saying. "I've obviously played in hotter conditions, and probably more humid conditions. But it just felt like you couldn't get your breath. It was like you were eating the air. It was unique."

"You could see it with [Heinrich] Klaasen. You could see how much it took out of him, not being able to get back out onto the field. I mean you couldn't get away from it. You walk out onto the field and your shirt's soaking wet, and you have a lot heavier breath than you would do, and you know you’ve done your fitness and stuff, it’s not like you're short on that. So you are very aware of it," the player said.

Root further said that Adil Rashid put in a brilliant performance for the team but some of the noises he was making when he was walking back to his mark summed it up, really. "Trying to get his breath back. It was tough, but that's the sort of stuff that you come up against and contend with when you come out to play in India at this time of year."

Mumbai's air quality on October 21 plunged to the poor category, with the air quality index at 161 (unhealthy). When asked whether he thought the pollution had made it hard to breathe, Root said he was 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 as well 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."

England played their third match against Afghanistan in Delhi, whose air quality is worse than Mumbai.