First-ever day-night Test in India: 5 things we know so far
India and Bangladesh are all set to kick-off the two-match Test series with the first match to be played at Indore starting Thursday, November 14. However, the excitement is already building up for the historic second Test at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The match to be played from November 22 will be the first ever day-night Test match in India as well as the maiden Test under lights for both India and Bangladesh.
Preparations for the big day have been on in full swing ever since new BCCI President Sourav Ganguly announced last month that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) had agreed to play a day-night encounter at Kolkata. In fact, the Indian team even took throwdowns with the pink ball as part of the practice session in Indore. A bunch of prominent dignitaries are also expected to grace the occasion.
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As a build up, here’s a look at five developments pertaining to the first ever nay-Night Test.
#1 Timing
The timing of the Eden Gardens Test has been fixed as 1 pm to 8 pm. This specific timing was requested for by the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) keeping in mind the dew factor in the night during winter, and BCCI has agreed to the same. The first session will be from 1-3 pm, the second from 3:40-5:40 pm, and the final one from 6-8 pm.
#2 Attendance
The demand for tickets for the maiden day-night set in India is rather high. CAB recently took to Twitter to announce that over 50,000 spectators are expected for the first three days of the historic Test.
#3 SG pink ball to debut
The pink SG ball will be used for the first time in a day-night Test. Till date, there have been 11 day-night Tests, and all have witnessed either Kookaburra and Dukes pink balls being used. Even the pink balls used in India during the Duleep Trophy were manufactured by Kookaburra. The main reasons for using the SG pink ball is because the first Test will also be played with the SG ball, and playing the series with two different balls wouldn’t be a feasible option.
#4 Mamata and Hasina to jointly ring Eden bell
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will jointly ring the Eden Gardens bell ahead of the historic day-night Test. CAB secretary Avishek Dalmiya confirmed the same to the media. As per media reports, among the famous personalities who have confirmed their presence for the momentous Test include Sania Mirza, PV Sindhu, Abhinav Bindra and Mary Kom. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also been invited for the Test. The CAB is also planning to felicitate members of the maiden Test between Bangladesh and India in 2000.
#5 Pink ball challenge
India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane expects the pink ball to do more than the traditional red ball, and feels the batsmen will have to be extra cautious, and play close to the body. Rahane, along with Cheteshwar Pujara, Mayank Agarwal, Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja, practiced with the pink ball at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru recently.
"We had two good practice sessions, actually four but two with pink ball one during the day and one under lights. It was actually exciting. For me, it was the first time I played with the pink ball and definitely it's a different ball game as compared to red ball. Our focus was to look into the swing and seam movement and also play close to our body," Rahane informed after the practice session.
"What we found out after the practice session was that the (new) pink ball does a lot more than the red ball. You have to play slightly late and close to your body. We had a word with Rahul bhai as he was also there," Rahane added.