Kohli & Co to go pink in Australia
Image : Getty
||Desk Report ||
India will play their first day-night Test away from home during their tour of Australia at the end of the year, it was decided in the meeting of the Indian cricket board’s (BCCI) Apex Council on Sunday.
BCCI president Sourav Ganguly said after the meeting, “Day-night Test will happen and we will make a public announcement—the second Test against England next year. Yes, against Australia also.”
The former India captain said day-night Test will become a regular feature in all future Test series at home. India will also play a day-night Test against England when they tour India in January 2021 for a five-Test series.
India, who were among the last countries to play a day-night Test, featured in their first game under lights against Bangladesh at the Eden Gardens in November. The Test also helped BCCI assess aspects like the durability of the SG pink ball, whether batsmen could easily spot the ball during twilight and the effect of dew under floodlights.
The Apex Council’s decision comes after India captain Virat Kohli had said the team is now prepared to play under lights. “We are ready and up for the challenge—whether it’s Gabba (Brisbane), Perth... it doesn’t matter to us. It’s become a very exciting feature of any Test series and we’re open to playing day-night Tests,” Kohli had said last month.
Cricket Australia had considered playing two day-night Tests against India, but Ganguly had said that it would get a bit too much.
It is likely that India will play the day-night game in Adelaide as it will suit the TV time of Indian viewers. If Cricket Australia goes ahead with Adelaide Oval as the venue then two of the four Tests in the series could coincide with Indian viewers’ day viewing hours—the other venue being Perth.
India had shown a lack of interest in playing floodlit Test matches under the previous BCCI dispensation with the team management also arguing that players cannot play one without being fully prepared for the changed playing conditions, ball, etc. However, the mood has changed since former India skipper Ganguly took over as president late last year.
India had first experimented with pink-ball cricket at domestic level in the Duleep Trophy before the issue was put on the backburner. It was revived late last year after the current office-bearers took over from the Supreme Court-Committee of Administrators.
