It might not have been a long time ago when Virat Kohli
labeled the first day-night Test in the history of cricket, which took place at
the Adelaide Oval between Australia and New Zealand, as a “milestone”, but it
now seems as though he might not be a fan of it after all.
At least not now, at least not in India.
After Ravi Shastri gave his support to approving Indian
hosting its first Test under floodlights, reports are coming out from the
Indian camp that the players are in complete disagreement over it.
Apparently, Shastri told the Men in Blue that "he is
open to the idea of supporting this proposal [of playing a day-night Test]".
According to DNA,
however, the players stand united on their decision against playing pink-ball
cricket under floodlights. Their reasoning is that day-night Tests will only
hand an advantage to the opponents instead of the home team India.
"If you play day/night Test, then the pitches need to
have a bit of grass so that the pink ball doesn't lose the seam early. And with
dew also playing a big factor in India during winter, there is every
possibility that the home team will lose out on home advantage.
"It is only going to hand advantage to the visiting
teams," is the general feeling in the dressing room,” the players told
Shastri, according to DNA’s source.
The proposal to play pink-ball Tests came from Amitabh
Choudary, who is the acting secretary of BCCI, and was also met with criticism
by the Supreme Court Committee of Administrators’ chief Vinod Rai. He believes
that the decision was taken without the consultation of players, stating that "players
need to be taken into confidence on such issues related to them".