India contemplate day-night matches for Duleep Trophy
After the humungous success of the inaugural day-night Test played between Australia and New Zealand at the Adelaide Oval in November, the possibility of such a change in the realms of cricket has increased manyfold. Many countries have openly come out to support the proposal and have plans of including such games in their domestic structure.
India is the latest induction to the list of such countries, as the tours and fixtures committee of the BCCI has recommended to its technical committee the idea of organizing Duleep Trophy matches as day-night fixtures using the pink ball.
The said tournament is an inter-zonal first class competition, which was not organized this season due to an overloaded Indian calendar. It would be held next season though, a season in which India are scheduled to play 13 Tests at home- 5 against England, 4 against Australia, 3 against New Zealand, and one each against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.
With an eye on bringing more fans to the stadiums during Test matches, a BCCI release has said that it was exploring ‘various options’ to increase the popularity of Test cricket amongst the masses. Virat Kohli, the Indian Test captain, has already expressed his willingness for cricket to have such innovations.
“I'm glad the two teams have actually agreed to play an official Test like that as an experiment. Credit to Australia and New Zealand, both, that they have decided to do this. Hopefully, it will be better for the game. It will be a step which we all might remember few years down the line. Let's hope so,” Kohli had said before the historic Adelaide Test.
"It is a step towards something. If it is officially put into place it will be something different, it will be something exciting. As cricketers, we all should be willing and accepting of the fact that we need to step forward and contribute to the game, however possible.”
“If this is a step towards improving the excitement and the popularity of Test cricket, then I think every team should be in for it."
Day/night Ranji final was one of the best first class matches in my career: Manjrekar
The major hurdle, however, with organizing such games in India is the dew factor that comes into play at night, given that a major part of the Indian home season belongs to peak winters.
That nevertheless, if put into practice, this will not be a the first time that a first class match would be played under lights. In 1997, the Ranji Trophy final was also a day-night affair, played at Gwalior with a white ball in April.
Sanjay Manjrekar, former India batsman, and an eminent TV commentator has his memories from that match: “I played in a five-day Ranji Trophy final in Gwalior that was a day-night fixture, and it was one of the best first-class matches I ever played in - the main reason being that we played in front of a big crowd for a change.”
"But clearly the white ball was an issue in that game and so the experiment was not repeated."
If implemented, it can go a long way in terms of improving the popularity of domestic tournaments, something that has been excessively stressed upon by the BCCI, as was evident by the broadcast of the Ranji Trophy matches, as well as free entries to the stadiums during the Ranji as well as Vijay Hazare Trophy games.