Here is your complete guide to the historic day/night Test between India and Bangladesh at Kolkata's Eden Gardens. This will be the first-ever pink ball Test for both teams
Kolkata: India will play their maiden day/night Test against Bangladesh from Friday (November 22) at Kolkata’s iconic Eden Gardens.
Preparations are in full swing in Kolkata and the players are already training with the pink balls. India hold a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series after winning the first Test in Indore by an innings and 130 runs.
Also read: Advantage wrist spinners in day/night Tests, says Harbhajan Singh
Australia and New Zealand played the first-ever day/night Test in Adelaide from November 27 to 29, 2015. Australia won the game by three wickets in three days. This was the first time in 138 years that a Test was a day/night contest with pink ball.
Also read: How a pink ball is made
Traditionally, Test matches begin at 9 am IST in India, with the coin toss taking place 30 minutes before. Now, for the day/night game, the toss will happen at 12.30 pm IST and the match will get underway at 1 pm IST.
Also read: 'Bowlers will have fun in day/night Test'
No. A day’s play in a Test is for the duration of seven hours and it will be the same for day/night contest as well. The Kolkata Test will start at 1 pm IST and end at 8 pm IST, with 30 minutes extension (to complete required 90 overs in a day) as per the normal playing conditions.
Under lights, the sighting of red ball will be difficult and hence pink ball is being used for day/night Tests. In ODIs and T20Is, a white ball is used with players in coloured clothing. Here, players will be in white clothing and hence pink ball.
Also read: Rahul Dravid speaks on day/night Tests
According to experts of the game and players, pink ball will help the fast bowlers more with a pronounced seam and lacquer. The seam on a red ball with have white stitches while it is black in pink. The seam of red ball is synthetic while the seam on a pink ball is a mix of synthetic and linen, according the ball manufacturers SG.
No. Since there could be dew in Kolkata, BCCI has scheduled an early start to the Test. In Australia, back then, the historic Test started at 2 pm local time. Tea break arrived first at 4 pm after the opening session. Supper or dinner interval was taken at 6.40 pm with the final session of play from 7 pm to 9 pm local time. However in India, lunch break will be first at 3 pm IST and then tea interval at 5.40 pm to 6 pm. The final session will be from 6 pm to 8 pm. So, we could have only one session under lights.
The first-ever first-class match to be played under lights in India was in 1997. It was the Ranji Trophy final between Mumbai and Delhi at the Roop Singh Stadium from April 5 to 9 in 1997. A white ball was used back then. Mumbai won the contest on first innings lead. Also, BCCI experimented with day/night Duleep Trophy games with pink balls.
Till today there have been 11 day/night Tests across the world. Australia (5), New Zealand (2), Pakistan (3), West Indies (3), Sri Lanka (3), South Africa (2), Zimbabwe (1) and England (3) have featured. Australia are unbeaten in day/night Tests, winning all their five games.
Virat Kohli: “The pink-ball Test is going to be exciting, will be a challenge for the batters. With the older ball, it doesn't swing that much so the bowlers will have a challenge. We're just happy to be among the first to play pink-ball cricket for India.”
Mayank Agarwal: “We've had three pink-ball sessions under lights, Rahul Dravid arranged those in Bangalore. Looking forward to the game now. It's going to be a landmark game for us.”
Cheteshwar Pujara: “I don't think there will be a major difference when you start playing with the pink ball. Since I haven't played (against the SG pink ball) I am not sure, but my assumption is that even the SG pink ball will be very similar to the red ball. I feel in India the quality of SG balls have improved.”
Kolkata gearing up for the 😊😊 pic.twitter.com/16p66AvHTn
— BCCI (@BCCI)Ajinkya Rahane: “I am very excited as it is a new challenge. When we play the match, we will get the idea then. When we have practice sessions before the match, then only we can assess how pink ball behaves. From the fan point of view, it would be really exciting.”
Ravichandran Ashwin: “The pink ball Test match is a great welcoming sign. India as a Test playing country, it was necessary for us to play Day-Night Test. The office-going crowd which couldn't catch Test cricket can now do so. Obviously, it's a challenge to play with the pink ball. The ball has a lot more lacquer.”
Wriddhiman Saha: “We have not played Tests with the pink ball. I have been part of a domestic pink ball multi-day game. I remember is sometimes it was becoming difficult to pick the ball. Yes, sighting was a bit of a problem once the ball got old and dirty. Especially during the twilight period, it can be challenging.”
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly: “I had met Virat on October 25th for an hour and my first question was, we need to have day-night Test cricket and the answer in three seconds was let's go ahead and do it. I found him absolutely acceptable to play day-night Test matches.”
India: Rohit Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper).
Bangladesh: Mominul Haque (captain), Imrul Kayes, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Mahmudullah Riyad, Mohammed Mithun (wicketkeeper), Liton Kumar Das (wicketkeeper), Mehidy Hasan Miraj, Mustafizur Rahman, Naeem Hasan, Saif Hasan, Shadman Islam, Taijul Islam, Abu Jayed, Ebadot Hossain, Mosaddek Hossain Saikat.
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