Hours before the arrival of Bangladesh cricket team for their first T20 international match in Delhi today, two Indian environmental groups wrote to Indian cricket Board President Sourav Ganguly seeking the shift of venue for the first T20I from Delhi, saying the rapidly deteriorating air quality in the Indian capital could prove a health risk for players and spectators.

The spike in the pollution level in Delhi and surrounding areas after Diwali has become a cause for concern ahead of the international match at Arun Jaitley Stadium on November 3.

In December 2017, the Sri Lankan cricket team was left gasping for breath during a Test match at the same venue, forcing most of their players to wear protective masks.

"In the light of extreme pollution in Delhi, we would like to request you to consider shifting the venue for the first T20 outside of Delhi. Making our cricketers play a physically demanding sport for 3-4 hours in Delhi's toxic air will end up doing more damage to our cricket team's health in the long run," Jyoti Pande of Care For Air and Ravina Raj Kohli of My Right To Breathe said in the letter.

Care For Air and My Right To Breathe are clean air awareness and advocacy non-profit organizations.

"Thousands of innocent spectators at the venue will also be putting themselves at risk in order to watch the match in the prevailing situation," they said.

The environmentalists said outdoor aerobic activities raise the respiration rate of the human body, thus depositing even higher levels of toxins into our lungs and organs.

"This puts our sportspersons at even greater risk when they play outdoors. Any match played outdoors harms the health and very lives of the players and it is irresponsible to schedule such sporting activities during times of such toxic air quality," they said.

On Monday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had expressed the hope that pollution will not affect the T20 match and said his government has been taking steps to improve the air quality.